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TTie Curriculum of the Horace 
Mann Elementary School 



Teachers College, Columbia University 
1917 



The Curriculum of the Horace 
Mann Elementary School 



By 

The Teachers of the Horace Mann 
Elementary School 

Teachers College, Columbia University 

II 



PUBLISHED BY 

GIrart|?rB Qlnllrgr, (Columbia Hmnrrailg 
NEW YORK CITY 
1917 






Copyright, 191 7, by Teachers College, Columbia University 



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CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introduction - - - - Henry Can Pearson 1 

II. Arithmetic ---- 3 

III. Geography .--- 10 

IV. Study of New York City ------ 31 

V. History - ----34 

VI. Music 36 

VII. English - - - - 48 

VIII. Nature-Study — Science 70 

IX. Industrial Arts 89 

X. Fine Arts 112 

XI. Physical Education 136 



TEACHING STAFF 

Henry Carr Pearson Principal 

Clara Mabel Wheeler First Grade 

Florence Mabel McVey First Grade 

Alice Woody First and Second Grades 

Evelyn Batchelder Second Grade 

Mildred loNE Batchelder Second Grade 

Alice Elizabeth Phelps Open- Air Class 

Anne Bennett Briggs Open-Air Class 

Theo. R. Stone Third Grade 

Laura Gillmore Third Grade 

Ida Elizabeth Robbins Fourth Grade 

Florence Marshall Perkins Fourth Grade 

Rxjth Batchelder Fourth Grade 

Siegried Hansen Upton Fijth Grade 

Margaret Condry Fifth Grade 

Marie Hennes Fifth Grade 

Mary Frederika Kirchwey Sixth Grade 

Mary Gertrude Peabody Sixth Grade 

Roxana Aler Steele Sixth Grade 

Kate Stuart Anthony Household Arts 

Ruth Watson Household Arts 

Lucia Williams Dement Fine Arts 

Belle Boas Fine Arts 

Helen Latham Music 

Abbott Low Combes Industrial Arts 

Lucy Hess Weiser Industrial Arts 

Mary Perle Anderson Nature Study 

Helen Webb Jones Physical Training 

Colba F. Gucker Physical Training 

Gertrude Colby Physical Training 

George Thomas Holm Swimming 

Mary E. Rohr Grammar Assistant 

Caroline Margaret Bradner Primary Assistant 



CURRICULUM OF HORACE MANN ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL 

INTRODUCTION 

Henry Carr Pearson 

This announcement of the curriculum of theHorace Mann Ele- 
mentary School is a revision of that published in 1913, and 
indicates the essential changes made since that time, especially 
those occasioned by the change from a seven to a six year course 
of study. 

The Study of New York City, which is outlined in Chapter IV, 
is an organized attempt to prepare our pupils to take a more 
intelligent and enthusiastic interest in civic betterment. As they 
become better acquainted with local history and tradition and 
with our best artistic possessions, as they come to realize the 
great social problems growing out of the industrial life of their 
city and the organizations of good citizens that are working to 
solve such problems, we hope that they themselves will soon 
develop a high type of civic responsibility. 

There will be noted an attempt in some subjects to organize 
the subject matter around certain large, fundamental questions 
or problems. In actual school-room procedure this method is 
used more than is apparent in this published curriculum. We 
have found that this method of approach to lessons stimulates 
interest in the pupils, gives a pointedness to the instruction, and 
furnishes situations that are favorable to good thinking. As 
we shall have more experience with this type of teaching, we 
expect to learn ways and means of carrying it still further and 
of organizing our curriculum more and more upon this basis. 
An ideal curriculum may be conceived to be a group of problems 
of vital interest to children and dealing with the fundamental 
aspects of knowledge, but at present we are able only to approxi- 
mate such an ideal. 

1 



2 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

This statement of the curriculum is organized from the stand- 
point of the conventional school subjects, rather than from the 
point of view of the grade, as was the case in the curriculum 
of 1906. This may give the impression that these school subjects 
are sharply differentiated from one another. Such is not the 
case, however, as this curriculum works itself out in the life of 
the child, for there is much natural correlation and interaction 
between the different subjects. At the same time we try to avoid 
the disadvantages of making correlation an end in itself, and of 
thereby denying the child the opportunity of feeling the logical 
unity of each subject. 

It has been our purpose to have this curriculum reflect the 
experience and opinion of the entire teaching staff of the school. 
As a result, the outlines were first prepared by various committees 
of teachers and then presented to the whole group for discussion 
and modification. After subsequent conferences with the princi- 
pal and supervisors the outlines assumed their present form. 



ARITHMETIC 

The general tendency in the teaching of elementary mathe- 
matics at the present time seems to point first, toward the intro- 
duction of problems which have to do with the conditions of 
life in the sections where the pupils live; second, toward a kind 
of drill which shall make for greater speed and accuracy in the 
four fundamental processes ; third, toward enlisting a broad- 
minded and self-dependent attitude in the pupil's approach to 
problems ; and fourth, toward a familiarity with numbers through 
their daily use in manual arts and games. That thoroughness 
in mathematics can never be gained by pupils except through 
interest, has been plain for more than a century. So the old 
mechanical routine drill has gradually been transformed until 
in the modern schools we find a new and wideawake activity 
which extends and amplifies in the class room those experiences 
of the family and social life which have to do with numbers. We 
preserve with this, however, that drill in operations which is 
clearly essential. 

The course as here planned calls for six years of arithmetic. 
In the junior high school two half years are given to further 
study of the subject and to a review of the work done in the 
elmentary school. 

The First Grade aims primarily to develop the number concept 
by taking advantage of the many opportunities for teaching 
number offered by the various class room activities. Definite 
number work within the limits of 1 to 100 is also given. 

More formal work begins in the Second Grade. Addition 
and subtraction, multiplication through 10 x 5, and the inverse 
cases of division give the children some acquaintance with the 
four fundamental operations. Most of the work of the Third 
Grade is in multiplication and short division. The principal fea- 
ture of the Fourth Grade work is long division. Tlie Fifth 
Grade has for its work the organizing of the facts about frac- 
tions already learned in the lower grades, and the application of 

3 



4 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

the four fundamental processes to common and decimal frac- 
tions. In the Sixth Grade a thorough drill in percentage is given 
which constantly is applied to the uses of daily life. 

Measuring is begun in the First Grade. This is continued 
through all succeeding grades. New facts are taught each year 
so that at the end of the Sixth Grade the common weights and 
measures have been completed. 

In the primary grades many games are used to help children 
master number operations. In the grammar grades fewer games 
are used and more time is given to blackboard and card drills of 
various sorts. The games listed in the course of study are sug- 
gestive of the kind that have been found most valuable. 

The Courtis Standard Practice Tests in addition, subtraction, 
muliiplication, and division of whole numbers are used in the 
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grades. Not more than twenty-five 
per cent of the time allotted to arithmetic on the daily schedule 
is used for these drills. 

FIRST GRADE 

The chief aim in this grade is to develop the nuniber concept 
by using the children's number experiences and needs for count- 
ing, comparing, and measuring. 

Counting. Groups of objects; children marching by 2's ; 
children seated five in a row. Counting pupils in the class and 
enough paper for them. 

Reading Numbers. Pages of books; calendars; street signs; 
house numbers. Roman numerals to XII in the study of the clock 
face. 

Writing Numbers. Numbers to 100. Attention is given to 
the correct formation of figures, especially 4, 8, 7, 9. 

Measures. Day, week, month, year; cent, nickel, dime, dollar. 
Measuring materials used in industrial arts, involving the use of 
inch, foot, yard ; pound ; dozen, half dozen ; the fraction one-half 
inch; e.g., measuring the materials for looms and counting the 
number of nails needed for them. 

Approximate and Exact Comparison of Size and Number. 
Approximate comparison ; e.g., Laura is taller than Milton ; Mar- 
gery's score is larger than Herman's. Exact comparison; e.g., 
this block is twice as large as that block. 



Arithmetic 5 

Addition and Subtraction. Numbers suggested by games 
and other interests of children. 

Problems. Problems suggested by children's interests and 
experiences. Children are encouraged to suggest problems. 

Games. Bean Bag; Marbles; Odd or Even; Ring Toss; Hull 
Gull ; Dominoes ; Guessing Game ; Tag. 

SECOND GRADE 

Review work of First Grade. 

Counting. Counting by I's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, to ten times 
each of these numbers as a basis for the multiplication tables. 

Reading and Writing Numbers. Numbers to 1,000. Writ- 
ing the Roman numerals to XII. Signs -|-> — > X» ~^> ^=- (Col- 
umn representation generally used.) 

Measures. Pint, quart, gallon; the quarter and half dollar; 
the quarter inch ; the square inch. 

Addition. Addition facts completed. Speed and accuracy 
developed by means of games. Written addition, numbers of 
two orders, not more than four in column with attention to 
checking results. 

Subtraction. Inverse cases of addition. Written subtraction, 
numbers of three orders, with attention to checking results. 

Multiplication. Informal beginnings in multiplication. Pro- 
ducts memorized both ways (6X3, 3\6). 

Division. Inverse cases of multiplication. 

Fractions. Halves, thirds, fourths of numbers. Addition 
and subtraction of halves, thirds, fourths, using objects. 

Problems. Problems connected with home and school inter- 
ests ; buying of school materials ; work done in industrial arts ; 
games on playground and in gymnasium. 

Games. Numbers on the Hoop; Running the Square; Run- 
ning the Triangle ; Climbing the Ladder ; Nimble Squirrel ; Num- 
ber Sprinters ; Bean Bag with Ladder ; Building a Stone Wall ; 
Relay Race ; Guessing Game ; Catching the Leader ; Simon says 
Thumbs up ; Changing Places ; Going to Boston. 



6 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elcuicnfary School 

THIRD GRADE 

Review work of Second Grade. 

Counting. Counting by I's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, to ten times 
each of these numbers. 

Reading and Writing Numbers. Numbers to 1,000,000; 
Roman numerals to XX. 

Measures. Ounce, pound ; the eighth-inch ; the square foot. 

Addition. Rapid oral drill on single columns. Written addi- 
tion, numbers of three orders, including dollars and cents, in- 
volving carrying; checking results. 

Subtraction. Making of change (use is made of a supply 
store at the beginning of the year). Written subtraction, num- 
bers of four orders, including dollars and cents, in which some 
of the digits of the subtrahend exceed those of the minuend ; 
checking results. 

Multiplication. Tables completed. Written multiplication, 
numbers of four orders, including dollars and cents, by numbers 
of one order; checking results. 

Division. Oral drill within multiplication tables. Written 
division, numbers of four orders, including dollars and cents, 
by numbers of one order. 

Fractions. Halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths; oral 
work in addition, subtraction, reduction. 

Problems. Buying of school supplies, luncheons ; problems 
connected with industrial arts and games in the gymnasium; 
problems of one step. 

Games. Bean Bag; Around the Circle, for addition, subtrac- 
tion, multiplication, division; Prison Game (original) ; Hide and 
Seek; Blackboard Relay. 

Text-Book. Wentworth-Smith's " Essentials of Arithmetic, 
Primary Book," Chapter H, pp. 53-166. 

FOURTH GRADE 

Review work of Third Grade. 

Counting. Counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, through 12's to twelve 
times each of these numbers. 

Reading and Writing Numbers. Numbers to 1,000,000. 
Roman numerals to L. 



Arithmetic 7 

Measures. Quart, peck, bushel, half-bushel ; square yard. 

Addition. Rapid oral drill with frequent use of combinations 
where 7, 8, 9 occur. Written addition, numbers of six orders, 
including dollars and cents ; checking results. 

Subtraction. Practice in making change. Written work, 
numbers of six orders ; checking results ; terms : sum, minuend, 
subtrahend, remainder, difference. 

Multiplication. Much drill on the multiplication tables. 
Written multiplication, multipliers of two and three orders. 
Practice in use of such multipliers as 906, 780. Terms : multi- 
plier, multiplicand, product. 

Division. Short division reviewed. Long division taught; 
dividends not to exceed six orders, divisors not to exceed three 
orders, checking results. Long division used as proof of mul- 
tiplication ; Terms : divisor, dividend, remainder, quotient. 

Fractions. Halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, eighths, 
tenths ; oral work in addition, subtraction, reduction. 

Problems. Buying school supplies, luncheons, marketing, 
shopping, — bringing in as much as is practical the facts of the 
denominate number tables which have been learned ; problems of 
one step. 

Games. Team Contests, — multiplication and division tables ; 
Counting Contests; Ring Toss; Bean Bag; Relay Race (prob- 
lems) ; Basket Ball Relay (original). 

Text-Book. Wentworth-Smith's " Essentials of Arithmetic, 
Primary Book," pp. 167-239, 245-247, 260-267. 

FIFTH GRADE 

Review thoroughly the fundamental operations with integers. 
Casting out of nines taught as a check in multiplication. Check 
all answers. 

Reading and Writing Numbers. Numbers to 100,000,000; 
Roman numerals to C ; also the value of D and M. 

Measures. Rod, mile; ton; fractional part of the foot, yard; 
ounce, pound ; pint, quart, gallon ; peck, bushel. 

Common and Decimal Fractions. Four operations using 
only the small fractions of ordinary business; much objective 
work; rapid oral and written drill involving simple fractions; 



8 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

reduction of common fractions to decimal fractions and vice 
versa ; interchange of common and decimal fractions to shorten 
operations. In division of decimals limit divisors to three decimal 
places. Terms : factor, multiple, integer, mixed number, proper 
and improper fraction, numerator, denominator. 

Problems. Simple concrete problems in easy common and 
decimal fractions, related, when possible, to the grade subject 
matter in geography, fine and industrial arts, etc. In the formal 
written analysis of problems especial attention should be given 
to the accuracy of mathematical statements. 

Games. Counting Contests; Relay Race (problems); Circle 
Game (fractions) ; Magic Square (fractions) ; Fraction Cards. 

Text-Book. Wentworth-Smith's " Essentials of Arithmetic, 
Intermediate Book," pp. 47-104, 141-184. 

SIXTH. GRADE 

Common and decimal fractions reviewed. Much practice in 
changing common fractions to decimals and decimals to com- 
mon fractions. Courtis Standard Practice Tests used to develop 
accuracy and speed in the four fundamental operations with 
whole numbers. 

Reading and Writing Numbers. Practice in reading and 
writing numbers. Roman numerals sufficient to express the 
number of the year. 

Measures. Square rod, square mile, acre. Reduction of com- 
mon denominate numbers involving two denominations, with 
practical applications to class lessons in industrial and fine arts. 

Percentage. Taught as a continuation of fractions. Com- 
mon business per cents and their fractional and decimal equiva- 
lents memorized as— 50%, 25%, 123^%, 37i^%, 75%, SSYsfo, 
66^%, 16^%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%. Only two cases taught, 
finding percentage, finding rate per cent, introduced by means 
of practical problems of real interest to children. Simple inter- 
est, discount, commission, profit and loss taught using pupils' own 
savings bank accounts, newspaper advertisements of mark down 
sales, and other pertinent information brought in by children. 
Terms : reduce, reduction, lower and higher terms, per cent of, 
rate, discount, gain, loss, commission. 



Arithmetic 9 

Problems. Simple concrete problems in finding percentage, 
rate per cent, interest, commission, discount, profit and loss re- 
lated when possible to the subject matter of geography, science, 
industrial arts, school and home life. Formal analysis of prob- 
lems by steps. Written analysis placed beside calculation ; prac- 
tice in judging probable results ; checking results. 

Games. Relay Race (problems) ; Percentage Circle; Fraction 
Circle ; Fraction Cards. 

Text-Book. Wentworth-Smith's " Essentials of Arithmetic, 
Intermediate Book," pp. 105-140 (omit pp. 125-130), 213-278. 



GEOGRAPHY 

INTRODUCTION 

The earth is the home of man. He lives upon its surface, 
moves over its waters, and breathes the air which envelops it. 
It prompts and influences his energies. Through his efforts to 
adapt himself to the physical laws and conditions which govern 
the earth, man learns to understand the laws, to respect the con- 
ditions, and to adjust the earth's resources, so far as possible, to 
meet his needs. Therefore, a study of the earth without con- 
sidering the life and work of mankind would be dry and mean- 
ingless and would make our work ungeographical. 

This point of view has guided our work in the past and still 
controls it, in spite of the many changes recently made in the 
course of study. The character of these changes, outlined be- 
low, is twofold. First, we have tried to select from the mass 
of geographic details which fill our modern text-books, those 
which seem to bear most directly upon the economic and social 
life of the peoples of the globe, and from the body of facts still 
further to determine an " essential minimum " which every ele- 
mentary school pupil should possess. Second, the order and 
presentation of this minimum have been arranged with the aim 
of making sure that it becomes a " permanent possession." 

The reasons for beginning geography with observations in the 
home field are too well known to need defending here. Our 
children come to school along crowded thoroughfares; below 
the ground, above it, and on its surface, they see the movement 
of peoples and commodities. The city is the child's laboratory, 
and it is to this busy life that we must appeal for notions with 
which he may image the remote areas beyond his vision. Home 
geography and history, therefore, are begun in the Third Grade 
through a study of the early history of Manhattan Island. The 
idea of trade and exchange is the basis for our study of the 
Indian life on the island and the later civilization of the Dutch 

10 



Geography 11 

and English, this in turn leading to the use of the globe and 
finally to a brief consideration of the belts of extreme tempera- 
ture and the people who inhabit them. 

No exhaustive study of home environment and conditions can 
be made in primary grades, but by the time our pupils leave 
the elementary school they should possess a distinct geographic 
knowledge of their city and state ; moreover, we have failed if 
we have not developed in them some ability to image and inter- 
pret things beyond their horizon by means of things seen and 
handled. Understanding that this power of imagination and in- 
terpretation grows with maturity, we have made a place for home 
geography in every year where geography is a part of the cur- 
riculum, placing the emphasis in each year on the aspects of 
the subject best fitted to the pupil's experience and interest. 
This makes possible a fuller realization of our ideal to use 
continually the old related knowledge to comprehend the new, 
and makes impossible the practice of closing the door on one 
continent when the study of another is begun. 

In the Fourth Grade the work on the home environment grows 
out of the ideas gained in the Third /Grade, that New York is a 
great trading center, that there is, therefore, a necessity for rapid 
means of transportation and communication. A brief study is 
made of our streets, tunnels, and bridges ; how they knit together 
the scattered parts of our city ; how traffic is accommodated and 
expedited ; and how our streets are made safe and attractive for 
city dwellers. In this year the study of a continent first begins. 
Certain topics from North America are selected and the work 
is based upon man's need for food, clothing, and shelter. Where 
and how the raw products are obtained, manufactured, and 
distributed, and the influence of climate, soil, and surface upon 
these products form the chief topics of the year. The pupil 
observes weather conditions and interprets the distant from the 
near; he studies the kinds of soil about him and gains a notion 
of the geographical conditions in the great agricultural areas of 
the United States and Canada. As he works with textiles and 
clays in his study of the industrial arts, he learns something of 
the processes required and the labor necessary to change the 
raw material into the finished product and to carry it where it 



12 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

is needed. He is drilled, also, in the location of a few important 
places. 

Home geography in the Fifth Grade means a knowledge that 
New York is the chief gateway for the thousands of foreigners 
who flock every year to our shores, that for this reason it is a 
more cosmopolitan city than London, and that of necessity it 
plays an important part in the government regulation of immigra- 
tion. From the knowledge of the country's resources gained in 
the Fourth Grade, our need of the immigrant and his willingness 
to leave the land of his fathers and seek a new home is explained ; 
in fact, our school rooms are a laboratory for building 
up these notions. We believe that such a study will give a 
knowledge of the original sources of our growing American 
nation, and develop a more sympathetic appreciation of the con- 
tributions each of the alien people gives to our national and city 
life. It is through some such approach as this that Europe is 
studied. 

Not much stress can be laid upon causes in the first three 
years of geography, but in the higher grades the knowledge 
which our pupils have gained through observation and experi- 
ence is made the basis for a discussion of the simpler reactions 
between man and his environment. By means of simple experi- 
ments which bear directly upon questions arising from these 
discussions many of the physical laws which govern our life on 
a planet are explained. In teaching Africa and Australia the 
controlling purpose is to show the activities of the colonizing 
nations of Europe and how these activities are influencing the 
primitive peoples with whom they come in contact. New York 
State is the topic for home geography in the Sixth Grade, 
emphasis being laid on the geographic conditions influencing the 
development of the state and upon man's responses to this control. 

During the first year of high school Asia and the United 
States are studied in detail. But in view of the underlying 
principle controlling our course, this is not the study of isolated 
continents. The opportunity offered by the recent entrance of 
the United States into world affairs is seized upon for a general 
world review, and to this is added a particular study of our 
Asiatic neighbors on the opposite shores of the Pacific, in this 



Geography 13 

way contrasting the highly organized states of society in these 
older colonizations with the freer, unconventional conditions of 
the western continent. Such a study shows that though details 
of development may be different in different nations, yet the 
primitive needs of man, after all, form the chief motives for 
his reaching into the varied domains of industry, science, and 
art, and for his forming world empires which are rapidly knitting 
together the peoples of the globe. 

That the economic and industrial ideas which form the chief 
control of this course of study must be simple does not detract 
from their value. In fact, such a point of view vitalizes and 
unifies all our school work, for it is evident that geography can 
and must contribute a large share in building up those industrial 
concepts which the school must furnish its pupils if they are to 
meet the demands which present social and economic conditions 
are forcing upon them. 

The reference books and text-books used throughout the 
grades are : 

The Dutch Twins, Fitch. 

A Home Geography of New York City, Straubenmiiller. 

Carpenter's Readers of the various continents. 

Industrial Studies, Allen. 

Bowman's South America. 

Geography of Commerce and Industry, Rocheleau. 

From Trail to Railway, Brigham. 

Elementary Commercial Geography, Adams. 

Representative Cities of the United States, Hotchkiss. 

Brigham & McFarlane's Essentials of Geography. 

Dodge's Advanced Geography. 

Tarr and McMurry's New Geographies. 

Longmans' School Atlas. 

Oxford Geographies — Europe, Asia. 

THIRD GRADE 
I. Idea of Trade or Exchange Growing Out of a Study of 
Food, Shelter, and Clothing. 
II. Introduction to a Study of the World. 
III. Study of Local Weather Conditions. 

In the Third Grade the aim is to give the children experiences 
which will form a basis for more definite geography work in the 



14 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

later grades. Little attempt is made to formulate a set body of 
geographical facts ; but rather to arouse an interest in people and 
things and to develop a consciousness of the interdependence of 
•one community on another. It is difficult in the beginning of 
the year to separate the geography and the history in this grade ; 
consequently the three parts of this outline are used as parallel 
rather than in sequence. 

The lessons on brickmaking, wool, and silk are given by the 
Department of Industrial Arts, but the class-work teacher em- 
phasizes the geographical side of these materials of which the 
child's clothing and shelter are made. 

I. Idea of Trade or Exchange as Growing Out of the Visit 
OF THE Dutch to This Country 

1. As carried on to-day between pupils and between different 
localities. These ideas are made clear by two excursions. The 
•children go to 130th Street ferry to see exchange going on there. 
They note the barges going up and down the river, carrying coal, 
lumber, bricks, etc. They also go to a large wholesale market 
where all kinds of food supplies are brought in. In class work 
the children suggest things in the home which are brought from 
foreign countries and tell how they are brought here. 

2. Trade among the Indians on Manhattan Island and be- 
tween Indians on the island and those across the river. Chil- 
dren suggest the articles that might have been exchanged and the 
means of exchange. 

3. Trade carried on between the Dutch and the Indians as 
brought about by Hudson's discovery and through Adrian Block. 
Brief study of the Dutch in their own country finds a place here. 

4. New Amsterdam as a trading center. Its advantages of 
location are noted, its excellent harbor, its water connections 
with other parts, also the quantities of material found on the 
island and in the vicinity that the Dutch wanted, such as furs, 
lumber, etc. 

5. The purchase of Manhattan Island by Dutch traders. 

6. The establishment of a village around the trading post. 
Children discuss what buildings would be necessary in such a 
village; the homes, the church, the schoolhouse, the storehouse. 



Geography 15 

the fort. They also consider the industries hkely to be carried 
on, as : trade in furs and lumber, the beginning of farming and 
manufacturing, chiefly of the home. 

The Dutch in Their Ozvn Country 

1. Character of the country: Low and flat with many canals 
and windmills, the extensive water-front, thus prompting many 
to a sea-faring life. 

2. People. The general appearance, customs, and industries, 
emphasizing the trading with other countries made easy by access 
to water. Globe used to show the respective positions of Holland 
and India and the difficulties of trading partly by water and 
partly by land. 

3. Attempt of Dutch to find a shorter passage to India. 
Emphasis laid on Henry Hudson's expedition, his motive, the 
description of his boat, comparing it with the ocean liner of 
to-day, the helps he had in sailing, charts and compass, the story 
of the entrance of the " Half Moon " into the harbor of New 
York, the meeting between the Dutch and the Indians, and the 
trip up the river. Maps and sand table used to fix locality and 
to picture the surface of the island in those early days. 

4. Results of Hudson's discovery. 

11. Introduction to a Study of the World 

1. Direction. Children find where sun sets and get other 
directions from that. They draw a compass on the floor and 
correct by a real compass. They make a compass with a mag- 
netized needle in dish of water. A drawing of a compass is 
made and hung with the north always at top. Directions from 
class room of familiar places in neighborhood are given. This 
work is then transferred to paper, bringing out map idea. 

2. Map drawing to easy scale. 

3. Use of globe. Children recall trips they have made, and 
tell direction in which friends going to Europe have sailed. 
Steamship lines to Europe are named and direction pointed out, 
also position of countries to which the ship is going. 

4. Land and water masses distinguished. Continents and 
oceans are named, giving direction of continents and countries 
from New York. Small globes are used. 



16 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elemetitary School 

5. Belts of extreme temperatures and their countries, (a) 
Land of the Eskimo, (b) Land of the Arab (Desert). 

III. Study of Local Weather Conditions 
Incidental work on wind, temperature, length of day. Sunny 
and shady sides of streets contrasted, north and south entrances 
to school, location of garden with reference to sunshine, the 
drying of sidewalks on windy and calm days, etc. 

The following lesson on one of the topics referred to under 
the " Idea of Trade or Exchange " is suggestive of the method 
of treatment in this grade. 

Study of a Wholesale Market 

The keynote of the geography of the Third Grade is the idea 
of trade or exchange as carried on at home and in the immediate 
neighborhood, and this serves as an introduction to the study 
of world relations and interdependence through trade which is 
carried further in the succeeding grades. 

A study of the immediate locality in its community aspect is 
made, beginning with the home, its members, and their inter- 
dependence. The type of home, whether in private house, apart- 
ment, or hotel, is next considered, and its dependence on the 
neighboring grocer, butcher, and delicatessen shop. The con- 
venience with which our needs are supplied is emphasized, for 
we note that through delivery wagons, automobiles, telephones, 
and messengers our wants are immediately satisfied. This leads 
to the questions : 

1. How do our local dealers get their supplies? Children 
suggest farms and wholesale markets. 

2. What is a wholesale market and where is it located? 
Teacher and children determine to answer the last question by 
a visit to such a market. 

Trip Made to Gansevoort Market on West 14TH Street 
Some of the large topics noted and discussed were the following: 

1. The variety of foods found there. 

2. Packing and storing of these foods. 

3. Meaning of commission merchant. 

4. Foreign countries represented through labels. 

5. Means of transportation and local delivery. 



Geography 17 

In the discussion that followed the excursion the children 
decided to make a class record of their experience. Two ques- 
tions arising from this discussion prompted the following work: 

1. Which of the products we saw can be grown at home and 
which come from a distance? 

2. Why can we raise these foods here and not others ? 
Lists of home products were put on the board with a view 

to making a collection of pictures of them. From magazines and 
catalogues children collected and mounted pictures on a chart 
which was called " Home Products." In discussing the second 
question statements of climatic and soil conditions were written 
on the board by the teacher and copied by the children as a class 
story. In the same way a chart called " Foreign Products " 
was made, labels from cans and packages being used instead of 
pictures. 

It was decided to make a class book, each child selecting a 
topic to write upon. A few of the many topics suggested are 
given below : 

Why We Went to the Market. 

Why the Market is Situated Where It Is. 

Market Time. 

Open Space where the Farmers Come. 

How Aleat is Brought to the Wholesale Market. 

Cold Storage and Ice Houses. 

Where Some of the Things Come From. 

Traffic. 

Each child chose his own topic and wrote upon it. The Eng- 
lish was corrected by the teacher and children, then the paper 
was copied and added to the book. 

Through the above study the children were impressed with 
the bigness and importance of their city and of the world at 
large, and they felt they had a speaking acquaintance with many 
countries beside their own. 

The following are samples of pupils' work that grew out of 
such an excursion to a market. 

Labels* 

All goods at the wholesale market must have labels to prevent the 
selling of stale goods. The labels tell where the goods come from. Some 
oranges come from California, and some from Florida. We have a 



18 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

book of labels showing where things are packed. It is interesting to 
see how far they have traveled to reach New York. 

* Individual work. 

Foreign Products* 

These fruits and vegetables we cannot grow here, so we call them 
foreign products. Many of these fruits come from the south where 
it is very warm and rainy and where they have long summers. Some 
of our best apples come from the western part of our country and 
from the northern part of our own state which is cold. 

Our foreign products are brought to us from all over the world in 
trains and boats. They are taken to the wholesale markets and the 
retail grocers buy from them and sell to us. 

* Class story. 

FOURTH GRADE 
I. Home Geography continued. 
n. The World as a Whole, 
ni. North America — Emphasis on the United States. 

Means of transportation and communication form the special 
topic for home geography in this grade. This naturally follows 
the topic of the preceding grade, and also furnishes an approach 
to an elementary idea of the world as a whole. Emphasis in the 
grade, however, is placed mainly on a study of the United States 
from the standpoint of its chief industries. 

Children are taught to use intelligently such geographical 
terms as continent, hemisphere, river system, river valley, 
mountain range, mountain system, plateau, and plain. Through- 
out the year, in addition to the text-book, frequent use is made 
of lantern slides, pictures, collections, and the experience of the 
pupils in the school garden. 

In this and in succeeding grades, much emphasis is placed 
upon visualizing and memorizing the location of the important 
cities, rivers, lakes, and mountains. 

I. Home Geography 

Means of Transportation and Communication 
The necessity for roads is shown through the child's experi- 
ences and through the knowledge of trade and the exchange of 
commodities gained in the Third Grade. Our school is situated 
on a historic thoroughfare, and Amsterdam Avenue is linked 



Geography 19' 

with the city's history through its name. Stories of early modes 
of travel are told to emphasize the present ease, safety, and speed 
of communication in New York and the effect of this on trade 
and industry. The city paves, lights, cleans, and repairs the 
streets, while the child shares the responsibility for their care, 
appearance, and beauty. 

Bridges and tunnels connect our island borough with widely 
scattered land masses belonging to the city and vicinity. Ele- 
vated roads, subways, street railways, steam railways, and water 
ways are needed to move people and goods quickly to and from 
the city. The Hudson is a highway of traffic, a moving road. 
The kinds of bridges children have crossed, the material of which 
they are made, are noted and pictures collected and compared. 

II. The World as a Whole 
From the study of the great city with its rapid means of 
communication linking it to all countries, the children pass to a 
consideration of the world as a whole. The shape of the earth 
is here assumed, a more detailed study of the results of living 
on a spherical earth being taken up in the Sixth Grade. Imagin- 
ary journeys across the seas are taken and the names of con- 
tinents, islands, and oceans are reviewed and learned. The 
direction of other countries from New York and from each other 
is a feature of this study. The work on the Heat Belts of the 
third year is reviewed and enlarged. The ideas presented are 
made concrete and vivid by a discussion of life conditions in 
these climatic belts and by collections of fruits, nuts, grains, 
spices, and the like, which the children bring at Thanksgiving 
time and arrange on shelves, grouping according to the belts in 
which they grow. The countries in which these products grow 
are then found, named, and located. 

III. North America — Emphasis on the Eastern United 
States 
As the atlas is first used in this grade many exercises of an 
introductory nature are necessary. These teach the technique of 
map reading and at the same time develop fundamental geograph- 
ical ideas. The first exercises are on direction and points of the 
compass. 



20 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

In an outdoor lesson at noon the children compare their shad- 
ows with the compass line and draw north-south lines on paper. 
The meaning of meridian is explained and our local meridian is 
drawn on the schoolroom floor. After this sundials made of 
four-inch squares of heavy cardboard with upright pins are given 
and the direction of the morning, noon, and afternoon shadows 
drawn. Games are played to test the child's knowledge of 
direction. 

This work leads to simple lessons in longitude. The size of 
the earth's " waist measure " is explained, and the idea of scale 
and degrees taught from the globe. A New York City map is 
placed on the local meridian drawn on the floor, and name of 
New York City meridian given. 

At this point the atlas is presented, the Mercator map being 
the first used. Children find the Greenwich meridian and notice 
how meridians are numbered. Each child makes for himself a 
Mercator map, a large one being drawn on the board upon which 
the Mariner's Game is played. In connection with this easy 
problems are given in dividing 360 into halves and quarters. 
Then follow map exercises in which the child traces the meridians 
and parallels which cross North America and names the countries 
crossed by them. 

Just here the child is shown how to use the index of the atlas. 
In one exercise he finds the latitude and longitude of the indexed 
cities ; in the other he is given certain crossings of meridians 
and parallels to find the cities at those crossings. 

The colors of the map are now explained. Our own environ- 
ment is drawn upon to make the idea of sea level clear, and 
exercises in map reading are given. 

The meaning of land and water forms and their representation 
on the map is made clear by using large colored lithographs of 
typical geographic features. From these the following points 
are made, — the height of mountains, source and course of 
streams, valley and favorable location for farms. The map of 
our own country is now examined for mountain ranges and 
peaks, rivers and river valleys, lakes, and connecting bodies of 
water. Thus, using picture and map, the following geographical 
features are discussed and their representative symbols on the 



GeograpJiy 21 

map found : Mountain range and peak, river — source, mouth, 
valley — meadows where cattle graze, a stream fed by melting 
snows, good place for farm, rocky coast, sandy coast, bay, and 
the like. 

At this point we recall the mariner and his Mercator map, and 
search our local map for ways in which our coasts are made 
safe for travel and commerce. The map of North America is 
examined to find suitable places for lighthouses, lightships, buoys, 
etc. ; also folders of various steamship lines. An exercise like 
the following is given : 

Lighthouse Capes — Maps 9 and 11. 
Cape Ocean Country or State 

While working out this exercise these facts are noted: capes 
often mark the opening of a gulf or bay; a river often empties 
into a bay; cities are at or near the mouths of rivers. Pupils 
now trace rivers from source to mouth and make list of rivers 
under following heads : 

Rivers and Bays — Maps 11 and 13. 
River Gulf or Bay City Country 

Having now acquired considerable ability to use a map, the 
children begin their study of the United States by considering 
some of the important industries of the country. Parallel with 
this, as the year advances, changes in temperature are noted, as 
well as amounts of rainfall, and varying lengths of day and night. 
Our school garden gives opportunity for experiments with soils 
and in different ways of planting. Wheat is sown in rich loam, 
in poor soil, in sand, and in coal ashes, and results are watched. 

A wheat farm is studied in detail, the following topics indicat- 
ing the points presented: 

Size: necessary buildings; preparation of ground for planting; har- 
vesting. 

Life of farmer and family: work; comforts; pleasures. 
States engaged in wheat-raising. 

Imaginary journeys with a wheat ship on the Great Lakes. 
States and cities having grain elevators and flour mills. 
Foreign countries which need our wheat. 

Corn, cotton, and sugar cane are treated in a similar way. 



22 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Following this study of life conditions growing out of farmings 
the different sections of the eastern United States are studied. 

In summarizing this work the facts to be emphasized are 
grouped under the following topics : 

Names of states in group. 

Location in northeastern United States. 

Coast line: Very irregular, numerous bays and islands. 

Surface and drainage: Hilly and mountainous. White Mountains, Mt. 
Washington. 

Hills low near coast but land gradually rises toward the interior until 
it becomes a plateau. Plateau crossed by many rivers — Connecticut, Mer- 
rimac, Penobscot. Abundance of waterfalls, rapids, and lakes. 

Soil: In valleys good. Hillsides poor and stony. Boulders. 

Climate: Severe winters, mild summers. Prevailing wind from west, 
but changes frequently bringing rain. Winter busy season for cutting 
timber, logging camp. 

Industries, varied: Dairying, lumbering, manufacturing, market gar- 
dening, fishing, quarrying. 

Products : Raw and manufactured. 

Cities : Boston, Providence, Fall River, New Haven. 

Transportation routes. Boston a centre. 

People. 

FIFTH GRADE 

I. North America Continued. 
II. Home Geography. 
III. Europe. 

I. North America 

The study of North America is continued during the first half 
of the Fifth Year. Emphasis is placed upon the western part 
of the United States, the growth of its mining and agricultural 
industries, its playgrounds and scenic features, its growing com- 
merce. Problems relating to Canada, Mexico, Central America, 
and Panama are studied. An idea of the effect on the trade of 
the world of the Panama Canal is brought out. 

Locational geography is considered very necessary in this 
grade. 

II. Home Geography 

The topics for Home Geography in this grade are Immigration 
and the Foreign Population of New York. The main question 
presented to the pupils is, " Why should New York have such a 



GcograpJiy 23 

large foreign population?" In the answer to this question the 
following points are made : 

Population of the United States in 1790—3,000,000. 
Population in the United States in 1912 — 93,000,000. 
Where has a large part of this increase come from? 

From Africa : Negroes equal one-tenth of total population. 
From Europe : northern countries, southern countries. 
From Asia : eastern countries. 
What has brought them here? Opportunities for work because of: 
fertile soil, manufacturing, mining. 

Why is New York the great gateway through which they pass into 
the continent? Because of its nearness to Europe, the centre for great 
steamship hues, and the ease with which all parts of our continent can 
be reached from New York. 

Why should so many immigrants remain in the city? Opportunities 
for unskilled labor in making of clothes, making tunnels, repairing 
streets, building, etc. 

What are the nationalities in the city? Italian, German, Scandinavian, 
Irish, Hungarian, Greek, Russian, etc. 
What does each contribute toward our city life? 
Greeks: Florists and fruit venders. 
Italians : Fruit venders, dig our subways, builders. 
Irish : Policemen, contractors, builders. 
Poles : Work on street and in factories. 
Russians : Make clothing. 
Germans : Business men, musicians. 
W^hat does city do for them? 

1. Establishes schools, parks, libraries, museums, model tenements. 

2. Protects and cares for the immigrants at Ellis Island. 

3. Social work done by individuals and by organizations. 

III. Europe 
No exhaustive study of the continent is attempted. We select 
some big question or problem that deserves emphasis in the dif- 
ferent countries, frequently making use of current events. Some 
of these problems are : 

Why do so many Italians, particularly from southern Italy, come to 
the United States? 

Show how Switzerland is the playground of Europe as well as the 
workshop of the Swiss. 

How will the opening of the proposed railroad between Ekaterina 
Harbor and the interior cities benefit Russia? 

By solving intelligently such questions we hope that the pupils 



24 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

will gain a working knowledge of the social, physical, industrial, 
commercial, and descriptive aspects of the different countries. 

To obtain greater thoroughness after the problem treatment, 
review lessons are given. By means of these lessons many of 
the leading facts regarding the Great Powers of Europe may be 
organized under the following topics : 

Importance in the progress of the world. 

Location : Favorable position among the continents ; its northern lati- 
tude ; waters. 

Coast features: Extent of coast line. Innumerable bays, fjords, river- 
mouths, and other arms of sea furnish great opportunities for trade. 
Comparison with North America. 

Surface: Mountain areas, highlands, lowlands. Great extent of pro- 
ductive land. 

Drainage : Many wide-mouthed, navigable rivers flowing into seas free 
from ice. Growth of large cities and distribution of population. 

Climate: Prevailing westerlies not obstructed by mountains in Central 
Europe. Temperature and rainfall. 

Life: Plant and animal. 

The method used in studying the various countries of Europe 
is indicated by the following series of lessons on The Netherlands. 



The Netherlands — A Type 

Work in home geography affords a growing interest in the 
Dutch. We locate their country and study them in their home 
environment. 

Before studying the topics outlined here, class interest is ob- 
tained by reading selections from " Hans Brinker " and a short 
description in Carpenter's " Europe," dealing with the industries 
of the country. The solution of the discovered problem gives 
a definite purpose for considering physical conditions that are in 
part responsible for the life and industries of the country. 

Problem: Why is grazing an important industry in The Netherlands? 

Review : Locate grazing regions studied in United States and Canada. 
Recall conditions favorable for grazing: 

1. Surface generally level. 

2. Climate not suitable for agriculture: 

a. Rainfall. 

b. Temperature. 



Geography 25 

Location : Political map. 

Surrounding countries and waters : Latitude with reference to 40th 
parallel. Comparison with New York. 
Size : Extent. Comparison. 
Surface : Physical map in Atlas. 

1. The Rhine Basin. Application of study of general surface map, 
noting peculiarities of surface. 

2. Dykes : Their purpose, size, care ; stories, pictures. 

3. Dunes : Nature's aid in helping to shut out the sea. Influence 
of sand and prevailing westerlies. 

4. Reclaimed lands. Fitting for use, draining canals, pumps, wind- 
mills. 

Use made of winds. 
Grazing: Application of surface conditions favorable for grazing to 

reclaimed and other sections. Comparison with United States. 

Among Alps. 
Temperature : Atlas. 

July temperature. Comparison with New York and United States. 

Application of temperature conditions favorable for grazing. 
Rainfall : Atlas. 

Influence of prevailing westerlies. Application and comparison with 

United States. 
Summary: Solution of problem. 

Because of the generally level land, range of temperature, and 

distribution of rainfall, grazing may be carried on in The Netherlands. 
Dairying: Result of grazing. Comparison with United States. Alps. 
Cattle: Kind, number, care, cleanliness, sheds. Comparison with 

United States. Alps. 
Life of the People: Comparison with cowboy life. Life among the 

Alps. 
Butter and cheese : The making. Centres of dairying. Markets at 

home and abroad, their location. 
Industry of towns depends upon accessibility of raw products, nearness 

to markets demanding products, ease of transportation. 
Transportation: Routes. Ports from which shipped, Rotterdam, 

Amsterdam. 

SIXTH GRADE 

I. Geographical Principles. 
II. South America, Africa, Australia. 
III. Home Geography — The State of New York. 

The first portion of the year is devoted to a study of geo- 
graphical principles. This work is supplemented by the science 



26 Cnrricidum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

study of the grade, which is devoted largely to the elements of 
physical science and thus often serves to elucidate some of the 
principles involved in the geographical course. 

In approaching the study of a continent or a section, the atten- 
tion of the class is often centered upon some large question, the 
solution of which involves a considerable body of geographical 
knowledge. Such questions or problems are stated at the begin- 
ning of the detailed outlines given later. 

The facts brought out in the preliminary surveys of Africa and 
Australia are rather general in character, and have to do with 
the larger physical features. 

The study of the individual sections or countries is far more 
detailed in regard to both the physical and the life conditions. 
This latter phase of geography, emphasizing particularly indus- 
trial and commercial activity, is the goal toward which all the 
work tends ; the former phase, the physical, is considered as 
explanatory of these life conditions. This does not mean, how- 
ever, that position, surface, drainage, and climate are studied 
formally as isolated topics, the information to be applied in some 
future work. On the contrary, they are given immediate point 
and meaning by being studied when a knowledge of these physi- 
cal conditions is found to be an essential step in the solution of 
some important problem. The outlines below suggest this method 
of procedure, that on Africa being typical of the work on 
Australia, and that on the Congo Basin, of the study of indi- 
vidual countries and sections of both Africa and Australia. 

The home state is studied in more detail than is any other 
section. Again the physical features are considered in their 
relation to life conditions. The following regions are studied 
as intensively as the age of children permits: the Hudson and 
Mohawk Valleys, the Adirondacks, the Highlands, and the 
Plateau Section. 

I. Geographical Principles 

I. Form and Size of Earth: 

Early belief that it was flat. Effect on exploration. 

Proofs that it is round. Shadow of earth when cast upon the 
moon is always circular. The unbroken horizon line is always cir- 
cular. Circumnavigation proves curvature, not rotundity. 

Circumference. Diameter. 



Geography 27 

2,. Rotation: 

Gives day and night. Fixes noon. North and south line found 
at noon by means of a shadow stick. Axis, poles, equator defined. 
.3. Latitude and Longitude: 

Their use. Practice in finding latitude and longitude on maps. 
Exact directions found by following meridians and parallels. Ap- 
proximate time found at various places — New York, London, Algiers, 
Cape Town, Melbourne. 

Standard time. Time belts in use in the United States. Changes 
made in traveling eastward — in traveling westward. 

4. Revolution — Inclined axis : 

Gives change of seasons. Show by means of diagrams and ap- 
paratus that when the northern hemisphere is having summer, the 
southern is having winter. Compare Cairo and Cape Town. 

Length of day and night at Equator, at Polar Circles, at Poles. 

5. Climate: 

Temperature : 
Isothermal maps studied. Land and water temperatures compared, 
coast and interior. Equator and poles. Shifting of Heat Equator. 
Winds— Rainfall : 
Effect of temperature on circulation of the air. The characteristics 
of each wind belt studied — the heavy rains of the Doldrums, the fair 
weather of the Trades, the stormy Westerlies, etc. 

II. Africa, Australia, South America 

Type of Preliminary Treatment of a Continent 

Africa 

Why has the development of Africa been much slower than that of 
the other great continents? 

1. Location : 

Not favorable. Almost wholly in the Hot Belt. Compare with 
South America. Find latitude of extreme north, of extreme south. 
Compare latitude of Algiers and Cape Town with that of Buenos 
Ayres, Los Angeles. 

2. Coastline: 

Regular — few good harbors. This has repelled sailors. Compare 
with Europe and South America. Name and locate principal in- 
dentations. 
.3. Surface: 

Mountains form a rim about the continent and thus are a barrier 
to exploration. Compare a trip up the Congo or Nile with ease 
of entrance to North America by way of Mississippi and St. Law- 
rence, to South America by Amazon, to Europe by Danube. 

Name and locate principal highlands, coastal lowlands. 



28 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

4. Drainage : 

Some of the greatest rivers of the world, but all interrupted by 
falls and rapids. Effect on development of country. Nile, Congo, 
Niger, Senegal, Zambezi Orange, Vaal studied, general directions 
and characteristics noted. Compare in size and importance with 
Mississippi, Amazon, Danube. 

Lakes Chad, Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyassa compared in size and 
commercial importance with the Great Lakes. 

5. Climate: 

Temperature: Great heat one of the chief causes of slow develop- 
ment. Isothermal maps. 

Rainfall: Much of the continent uninhabitable because of too much 
or too little rainfall — jungles, deserts. 

Apply work on Wind Belts. Sahara a Trade-wind desert. Winds 
from northeast blow from a cooler to a warmer region and so absorb 
moisture rather than give it. Southeast Trades leave moisture on 
windward side of mountains — result, the Kalahari Desert. 

Jungles — Doldrum Belt — great heat — moisture, swamps — unhealth- 
ful. 

Type of Treatment of a Section 

The Congo Basin 

Henry M. Stanley explored this region and made it known to the 
world. His journey from Lake Tanganyika down the Congo to the sea, 
with the difficulties and dangers he encountered, is the basis of the work 
on this section. 

1. Location of river, where it rises, general direction, where it empties, 

number and size of its tributaries. 

Compare length of Stanley's trip with trip down the Mississippi, 
down the Amazon. 

2. Character of the river: Stanley Falls, Stanley Pool. Series of falls 

near coast, great stretches of navigable water. The proportion of 
the journey that could be made by water, the proportion that had 
to be made by land. Compare in this respect with the Mississippi 
and the Amazon. 

3. Character of the country through which Stanley made his way: 

Jungle, hot, reeking with moisture, malarial. Effect on health and 
working capacity of explorer and his men. Compare again with 
Mississippi and Amazon. 

4. Animals of the region — insect pests, poisonous snakes, wild animals. 

5. Wild tribes, pigmies, etc., that interfered with Stanley's progress. 

6. Value to the world of his expedition: Made known "Darkest Africa"; 

opened up trade in valuable woods, rubber, palm-oil, gums ; led to 
building of railroad and steamboat lines ; brought in Europeans with 
their civilizing influence (French, Belgians), thus abolishing canni- 
balism and greatly reducing slavery. 



Geography 29 

South America 

Argentine Republic, Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia are taught 
in detail. A comparison is made between the great plain of 
Argentine with its cattle and sheep ranges, wheat fields, railways, 
cities, and foreign trade, and the great plain of the United States. 

A lesson on Typical Seaports of South America is given below 
as one type of drill work. 

Drill Lesson 

Principal Seaports of South America. 

Period — 30 minutes. 

Work proceeded very rapidly. 

Interest in lesson aroused through an article, published by the New 
York Times, on " Floating Exhibition of American Manufactures to 
South American Ports " for the purpose of increasing trade. 

Certain paragraphs of the article selected and read in class. 

List of principal ports to be visited, as given in article, placed on 
board and named. 



Name of country in whic! 


h each port is located, j 


opposite name of city. 




La Guayra 


Venezuela 


Para 


Brazil 


Pernambuco 


Brazil 


Rio Janeiro 


Brazil 


Buenos Ayres 


Argentine Republic 


Montevideo 


Uruguay 


Valparaiso 


Chile 


Callao 


Peru 



1. On political wall map of Western Hemisphere, children trace route 
of the Exhibit Ship from New York to ports in South America naming 
places to be visited. 

2. Call names of places rapidly, and ask different children to locate 
cities by pointing on wall map. 

3. Children ask each other to point to and name cities on wall map. 

4. Call for definite oral location of all cities on the Atlantic ; on the 
Pacific. 

5. On physical map children find and locate all cities to be visited. 

6. Point to and locate orally the city that is the outlet for the greatest 
river system of South America. 

7. Point to and locate orally the city that most closely resembles 
San Francisco in its location. 

8. Find and locate a city that is the outlet for a valley resembling 
our Mississippi. 

9. Locate city that has the largest harbor. 

10. Divide class into two sections for quick competition. Pupils in 



30 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

"A" section give name of country. Pupils in " B " section respond by 
locating city in country. Pupils leave section when mistake is made. 

11. Place a "blackboard" outline map before class. Children volunteer 
to locate cities from memory, by placing city mark and printing name 
on map. 

12. Class check w^ork by referring to map. 

13. Pass individual outline maps of South America. Pupils are given 
a chance to see how^ many cities they are able to locate within a given 
time. 

III. Home Geography — The State of New York 

Why has New York become the Empire State f 

1. Harbor: Large, deep, safe. Many miles of water front, piers and 

docks for ships from all over the world. 

2. Hudson and Mohawk valleys: Broad Hudson, navigable for 150 miles 

is joined by Mohawk from the west. These two valleys form a 
continuous highway from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, thus 
connecting New York City with the productive interior of the 
country. 

Importance of the Erie Canal, the New York Central and Hudson 
River Railroad, the Boston and Albany Railroad, etc. 

Important cities of these valleys located, their size and chief indus- 
tries accounted for. Niagara Falls studied in connection with Buffalo. 

3. Plateau Region (central and southern New York) : 

Character of the surface, appearance of the eastern part of the 
plateau, the Catskills, from the Hudson Valley. Height of plateau. 
Sources of Delaware, Susquehanna. Why it is the farming region 
of the state (grapes, apples, dairy products). Compare size and 
number of cities in this section with those of the Hudson and 
Mohawk valleys. 

4. Adirondack Region: Northeastern New York the highest part of the 

State. Mountains are well forested, beautiful lakes, fine air. Health 
resort. Lake Champlain and highway to Canada. 

Lumbering in this region an important industry. Wood-pulp manu- 
factured. Many paper mills in towns along the borders of the region. 

5. Highlands of the Hudson: Extend from northeast to southwest, a 

part of the Appalachian System. Hudson cuts through this ridge 
forming a wonderful water-gap. This gap is the eastern gateway 
of the continent and is the dominant factor in making New York 
the Empire State. 

Mountains here are low, forests have been largely cleared away 
for farms and pastures. Much valuable clay for bricks and tiles 
comes from this region as well as building and flag stone. 

The course in geography is completed in the first year of the 
High School by a study of Asia and of the United States in its 
world relations in industry and commerce. 



STUDY OF NEW YORK CITY 

The purpose of this study of New York is to acquaint the 
children with their own city, to interest them in the efforts of its 
best citizens toward a higher ideal of city Hfe and government, 
and to inspire them with a desire to do something for their city. 
This knowledge should include (1) the actual physical features 
of the city; (2) the inhabitants, their number and nationality; 
(3) the occupations of the people and some of the problems 
arising on account of the industrial pursuits in which many 
of them are engaged; (4) some of the institutions aiming to 
solve the most pressing of these problems, as: the Consumer's 
League, the Child Labor organizations, the City Club; (5) the 
history of New York and historic spots in the city; (6) the 
beautiful things in New York, buildings, parks, museums, art 
collections, etc.; (7) the means for protecting life and property, 
as : the Police and Fire departments, courts. 

As will be seen by consulting the tabulated outline, the 
method of presenting these topics and questions is to draw from 
each subject of the curriculum any material which may apply to 
New York, rather than to organize a special course not related 
to all school subjects. The time schedule is not necessarily fixed, 
but each phase of the study is taken up in the natural setting 
of the general course from which it is drawn. The amount of 
time given to this study varies from two to four weeks, accord- 
ing to the grade of the child and the subject under consideration. 
A more detailed treatment of these topics is given in other parts 
of the course of study under the general heading at the top of 
each column. 



31 



32 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



STUDY OF 



GRADES 


HISTORY AND CIVICS 


GEOGRAPHY 


FINE ARTS 


VI 


Political divisions of 
city. 

Comparison with the 
past. 

Dep'ts of city govern- 
ment and their work. 


New York as a port, 

as a manufacturing 

center. 
Terminals: water, 

raU. 

(1st Year H. S.) 
New York State and 

Hudson River. 


Civic art. 

Improvement of city. 
(1st Year H. S.) 


V 


United States post- 
office: Its work in 
the city. Compari- 
son with mediaeval 
times. 


Foreign population : 
Immigration. 


Tiffany glass. Collec- 
tions of pottery and 
porcelain in museums, 
shops. 


IV 


PoUce protection: 
Comparison with 
the past. 


Transportation and 
communication: 
Streets, tunnels, 
bridges. 


Study of collections of 
textiles and plates in 
Metropolitan Mu- 
seum. 

Design work. Appear- 
ance of city street 
compared with coun- 
try road. 


III 


Early history. 
Fire protection. 


Surface of city — map 
of New York. 

Continuation of weath- 
er study. 


Sunny, grey, and stormy 
days along the Hud- 
son. 

Firemen in action. 


II 


Early history. 







Study of Nezv York City 



33 



NEW YORK CITY 



INDUSTRIAL ARTS 


SCIENCE 


LITERATURE 




Water supply of New York. 


Description of city in 

poetry and prose. 
Cost year No. 21 
I. H. S. Irving. 


Cement industry. 

Clay and glass industry. 

Museums. 


Forestry: 

Trees and birds of parks. 




Building materials of city. 
Bread supply. 
Cotton market. 


Sources of food, clothing, 
shelter: 

Sugar, tea, fish, lumber, 
fibres, rubber, building- 
stones. 


Stories of inventors, engi- 
neers, builders. 


Shelter, food, clothing: 
Brick-making. 
Milk supply. 
Wholesale market. 


Vegetable garde 
Shrubs 
Vines 
Flowers 
Beaver. 
Sea-gull. 


ns: 

of parks 




Work illustrating occupations 
of Indians on Manhattan 
Island: 

Clays, textiles. 


Native plants and animals. 
Weather: 

Rain, snow, temperature, 

evaporation. 





HISTORY 

The new organization of the school providing for the Junior 
High School has influenced the course of study in history in the 
elementary school. There virtually are only five years of his- 
tory because the work of the First Grade is not differentiated 
into the common school subjects. With this arrangement it has 
been necessary to limit the elementary field to American history 
with just enough of the European background to make it intelli- 
gible. 

At present the work is in an experimental stage. A detailed 
working syllabus is used as a guide and no text-book is followed. 
The oral method of presentation is employed, supplemented by 
discussion, collateral reading, and the use of source material. 
Only a few topics are treated, but an effort is made to present 
a connected story of development rather than a series of stories, 
biographies, and events. 

History is introduced in the second year through a study of 
changes visibly in progress in the neighborhood. This is fol- 
lowed by a study of the three phases of life on Manhattan Island 
— Indian, Dutch, and English. 

Beginning with the third year provision is made for a system- 
atic survey of American history from the period of discovery up 
to the present time. 

Applying the general theory of the course — that the work 
should begin and end with the pupil's own community, and that 
throughout the course this same community consciously should 
be turned to account, thereby giving reality and meaning to the 
past, — the work ends with a study of the government of New 
York City to-day. 

The outline indicates the division of the work according to 
grades. A fuller outline with references and suggestions will 
be published when the work has become somewhat standardized. 

34 



History 35 

SECOND GRADE 
Manhattan Island, — 1609-1763 

THIRD GRADE 

How EuRorEANs Found Our Continent and What They 
Did With It,— 1000-1763 

FOURTH GRADE 
How Englishmen Became Americans, — 1607-1783 

FIFTH GRADE 
The United States of America, — 1783-1865 

SIXTH GRADE 

The New Nation, — 1865-1916. How We Are Governed 
To-Day 



MUSIC 

The plan of study for music in the elementary grades is based 
upon " Education Through Music," by Professor Farnsworth, 
of Teachers College. The work is divided into two groups, or 
phases : From Song to Notation, Grades 1-3 ; From Notation 
to Song, Grades 4-6. 

The first phase, From Song to Notation, presents the work 
through a direct musical appeal. The pupil is led to observe, 
define, and finally describe in terms of musical notation what, in 
all cases, he has first heard and sung. Musical experience in 
the form of rote songs is given and gradually this experience is 
defined through association with notation. The child passes 
from expression through imitation to expression throvigh thought. 
Drill grows out of the effort to formulate what is felt. 

The second phase. From Notation to Song, complements the 
first in that the process is reversed and the musical thought is 
first presented to the eye in notation. This the pupil rapidly 
coordinates, forming a musical concept of what he finally sings. 
Drill grows out of the effort to formulate what is seen. 

Believing that good tone, clear enunciation, and imaginative 
singing are essential to any degree of beauty in singing, and also 
necessary as a foundation for musical experience upon which 
to base the technique of sight-reading, we have aimed first to 
teach the children to imagine vividly, enunciate clearly, and sing 
with good tone. As outlined in " Education Through Music," 
we are carrying out in the first four grades the plan of work 
for drill in the technique of sight-reading. In the Fifth and Sixth 
Grades, however, the time for class-room lessons is not sufficient 
to enable us to accomplish all the drill in technique. While aim- 
ing to retain what has been gained in beauty in singing, we are 
giving these pupils a general knowledge of musical notation, as 
outlined, sacrificing the drill in sight-reading somewhat for the 
sake of more singing of good songs. A wider choice of songs 
is made possible by aiding the pupils when necessary in the 

36 



Music 37 

difficult parts of songs, thus preserving the freshness of the 
songs and also giving time for more effective drill in the artistic 
expression of what is sung. Pupils are encouraged to sing alone 
from memory songs that will be of use after school days. 

The choice of subjects for study and drill grows out of the 
nature of the child and the relation to each other of the musical 
problems to be solved. These problems are dealt with in stages, 
each having a characteristic feature, e.g., tone-production, 
rhythm, pitch. These again are divided into steps, when neces- 
sary, each step or stage taking from three to six weeks, long 
enough to complete a unit of work and to make a definite and 
lasting impression that may be built upon when the subjects 
recur, and yet not long enough to weary the pupil, thus destroy- 
ing interest. 

In the following outlines the formal work necessarily occupies 
the most space, but actual practice through emphasis on song 
singing keeps the balance between the two kinds of work. 

FIRST GRADE 

First Phase. Awakening Musical Ideas : ( 1 ) Rhythmic in- 
terest in the song, supplying a means for all to join, even those 
who are too shy to sing. (2) Voice — improvement in tone and 
pronunciation through the efforts to express adequately the 
thought of the song. Helping monotones to find their singing 
voices. (3) Observation of the character of the song through 
attempts to act and picture the way it goes with reference to 
pitch, duration, pulse. (4) Learning key relationship of tones 
by singing syllable names as another stanza to simple songs, such 
as "Hot Cross Buns." (5) Playing "Echo" and imitating 
musical sounds for the purpose of developing control of breath 
and tone quality. 

SECOND GRADE 

First Phase. Defining musical ideas and beginning to ex- 
press them by means of notation. Defining Interpretation and 
Structural Ideas: (1) Voice work: Good position of body. 
Good breath control. The vowel, the thread upon which the 
tone is sung. All developed from effort to make the song sound 
better. (2) Key quality. Observing through song sentences the 



38 Ciirricidum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

characteristic effects produced by each of the seven tones of the 
key and associating the sound names and hand signs with the 
tones they represent, estabhshing the third and fifth as initial 
tones, followed by scale practice. (3) Tone duration: Com- 
bining the acting and picturing of pulse and duration, thus learn- 
ing how to measure tones of different lengths — quarters, halves, 
eighths. (4) Simplified notation: Discovering the advantages 
of lines in representing differences in pitch and learning how to 
write measured music upon them. (5) Practice in finding rap- 
idly the third and fifth on the staff. (6) Song-making: Learn- 
ing how a musical passage of four or five notes sounds from the 
way it looks and how to form and express our own tonal thoughts 
by song-making. 

THIRD GRADE 
First Phase. Completion of the process from Song to Nota- 
tion and commencing phrase reading: (1) Review of notation 
learned in second year ; continuation of the work through appeal 
to the imagination. Specific vowel practice on sustained tones. 
(2) Completion of staff notation. First step: Learning to sing 
major and minor seconds at will in order to be able to measure 
staff distances. Second step: Discovering the need for fixed 
pitch as well as relative names of tones, learning how the fixed 
pitch names came to be, and how to sing them, starting from 
any one of them. Third step: Learning how the clef mark 
makes it possible to have the lines of the staff represent fixed 
pitches and how to sing them from the staff. Fourth step : Dis- 
covering how the staff with the clef mark can represent only the 
key of C and how sharps and flats are made to represent other 
keys. (3) Fractional pulse: Observing the difference between 
the dotted pulse and the dotted half pulse and memorizing their 
effect as well as learning how they are represented in notation. 
(4) Phrase thinking: Inventing variations on a musical passage 
and writing them down, as well as continuing song-making. (5) 
Commencing phrase reading in the three keys, C, F, G. 

FOURTH GRADE 
Second Phase. Beginning of the work from Notation to 
Song and development of phrase reading. (1) Continued prac- 



Music 39 

tice of good voice and vowel color through efforts to express 
adequately the character of the song. (2) Thinking music in 
phrases; singing and writing variations on a phrase. (3) Speed 
work ; practice in rapid coordination by pointing on staff without 
writing, and by use of printed cards. Application of phrase 
practice to songs. (4) Learning new keys ; applying the ob- 
servation with reference to the sharp four and flat seven as a 
principle for introducing new keys and forming key groups. 
Rhythmic practice. (5) Speed work in placing 1st, 3rd, upper 
and lower 5th, and upper octave in different keys. (6) Intro- 
duction of musical reader. 

FIFTH GRADE 

Second Phase. Continuation of the work from Notation to 
Song: (1) Continuation of the phrase reading begun in the 
fourth year, practiced in connection with song work. Gradual 
increase in the difficulty of phrases used, and shortening of the 
time allowed for observing. The use of minor phrases upon 
which to write variations. Continuation of the same attention 
to means of interpretation employed in the previous grades. 
(2) Fundamentals of good tone studied as such: (a) Breath, 
deep and free, controlled by the muscles about the waist, (b) 
Loose and flexible muscles about the neck and mouth. (c) 
Resonant body, especially chest and head, (d) The recognition 
and use of head tones, (e) Learning a classified list of good 
singing vowels. (3) Development of the minor mode. Giving 
experience of minor tones, observing and describing what makes 
them sound as they do. Learning how to sing the new tones. 
Practice on the harmonic and melodic forms of the minor scales 
and chords. (4) Speed work in recognition of key-signatures. 
(5) Continuation of work in readers. 

SIXTH GRADE 

Second Phase. Completion of the process from Notation to 
Song: (1) Continuation throughout the year of sight-singing. 
Practice in recognizing phrase groups, as well as phrases. (2) 
Study of chords. The observation of tones sounded together. 
More systematic practice of part singing. The discovery of the 



40 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

principal chords, their inversions and how they succeed each 
other, practice in learning to recognize and name them. The 
work under this head divided into several periods. (3) Learn- 
ing the key groups. Observing the change of keys that takes 
place in many tunes. Classifying these changes and learning the 
chromatic marks that indicate each change. (4) Speed work 
in naming degrees of staff and relating scale names to them in 
different keys. 

Song Material 

" Songs for Schools " with its supplement is used for general 
assembly singing. A list of some of the songs contained in this 
collection is given below. 

The choice of song material, especially in the earlier grades, 
grows out of the seasonal changes of the year, special programs, 
and the recurring festivals, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, 
and May Day. 

The following list of songs is classified in three divisions, A, 
B, and C. A indicates short, easy songs of small range, suitable 
for Grades I and II ; B, longer or more difficult songs suitable 
for Grades III and IV ; C. songs still more difficult or of still 
wider range, suitable for Grades V to VII. 

The page numbers are given and. in a few cases, changes in 
key or words are suggested. 

Songs for Schools. C. H. Farnsworth. Macmillan. 

Songs of the British Isles. W. H. Hadow. Novello. 

The Children's Messiah. Marie Ruef Hofer. Clayton F. Summy Co. 

Rounds, Carols and Songs. Margaret Cushing Osgood. Oliver Ditson 
Co. 

Nature Songs for Children. Fanny Knowlton. Milton Bradley Co. 

Art Song Cycles — Part I. Miessner. Silver Burdett. 

Song Year Book. Helen Place. Silver Burdett. 

Small Songs for Small Singers. W. H. Neidlinger. G. Schirmer. 

Songs and Games for Little Ones. Walker and Jenks. Oliver Dit- 
son Co. 

Mother Goose Set to Music. J. W. Elliott. McLaughlin & Co. 

Seven Little Songs. Grant-Schaefer. Clayton F. Summy Co. 

Fifty-five Rounds and Canons. Sara L. Dunning. G. Schirmer. 

Folk Songs from Somerset. C. J. Sharp and C. L. Marson. Simpkin 
& Co., Schott & Co., London. 

English Folk Songs for Schools. S. Baring Gould and C. J. Sharp. 
J. Curwen & Sons, Ltd., London. 



Music 



41 



Thirty-six Songs for Children. Grant-Schaefer. C. C. Birchard & 
Co., Boston. 

Songs of Life and Nature. Eleanor Smith. Silver Burdett. 

Songs for Little Children. Parts I-IL Eleanor Smith. Milton Brad- 
ley. 

The Song Primer (Teachers' Book). Alys Bentley. A. S. Barnes. 

Songs of the Child World. Riley and Gaynor. John Church Co. 

Play Songs (from the Song Series). Alys E. Bentley. A. S. Barnes. 

Songs of a Little Child's D.\y. Poulsson and Smith. Milton Bradley. 

Education Music Course. Teachers' Edition. Ginn. 

Song Echoes from Child Land. Jenks and Rust. Oliver Ditson Co. 

Stevenson Song Book. G. Schirmer. 



SONGS FOR LITTLE CHIL- 
DREN 
Part I 
Eleanor Smith 
A 

Morning Prayer, 2. 

The Morning Sun is Shining, 7. 

All the Birds Have Come Again, 
20. 

Good-Bye to Summer, 22. 

When the Snow is on the Ground, 
28. (Mother Goose.) 

The North Wind Doth Blow, 30. 
(Mother Goose.) 

Little Boy Blue, 102. 

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, 97. 

Sleep, Baby. Sleep, 96. 

I Love Little Pussy, 92. (Mother 
Goose.) 

Rain Song, 88. 

We are Little Soldier Men, 68. 

Do the Little Brown Twigs Com- 
plain, 26. 

The Autumn Leaves are Crying, 
24. 

Part IL B. 

Harvest Song, 22. 

The Chipmunks, 55. 

Daffy-down-dilly, 82. 

Flag Song, 112. 



THE SONG PRIMER 

Bentley 

(Teachers' Book) 
A 

Santa Claus, 28. 

The Golden-rod, 24. 

Jack Frost, 38. 

In a Hickory Nut, 34. 

He Prayeth Best, 56. 

Soldier Boys, 25. 

Dancing Song, 33. 

The Clock, 21. 

The Rain, 18. 

The Hurdy Gurdy, 19. 

Cradle Song, 16. 

The Echo, 24. 

The Fiddle, 33. 

The Wind, 35. 

Dance of the Fairies, 40. 

Day and Night, 43. 

Nature's Good-night, 50. 

MOTHER GOOSE SET TO 
MUSIC 

Elliott 



The North Wind Doth Blow, 47. 
The King of France, 37. 
Hey, Diddle, Diddle, 50. 
Nineteen Birds, 10. 



42 



Curricuhnu of Horace Maun Elementary School 



Pussy-Cat, Pussy-Cat, 9. 
Dickory, Dickory, Dock, 7. 
Little Jack Horner. 22. 
A, B, C, Tumble Down D, 25. 
Sing a Song of Sixpence, 32. 

SONGS OF THE CHILD 
WORLD 

Gay NOR 
A 
Snow Flakes, 71. 
Tracks in the Snow, 69. 
The Leaves' Party, 64. 
Farewell to the Bride, 66. 
Jack Frost, 68. 
The Sailor, 50. 
Little Yellow Dandelion (Pussy 

Willow), 79- 
Robin Red-Breast, 73. 
Marching Song. 32. 
Rub-a-dub-dub, 32. 
We March Like Soldiers. 34. 
The Happy Lambkins, 18. 
The Song of the Shearer, 19. 
The Little Shoemaker, 17. Higher. 
The Song of Iron. 14. 
Blowing Bubbles. 47. 
Pit-a-Pat. 46. 
Aty Shadow, 62. Higher. 

SONGS OF A LITTLE 
CHILD'S DAY 

POULSSON AND SmITH 

A 

The Bold Snow-Man. 28. 
The Weather Vane, 38. 
Plums in Winter. 94. 
In the Bethlehem Stable, 91. 

EDUCATION MUSIC COURSE 
(Teachers' Edition) 
A 
Leaves at Play. 63. 
Autumn, 70. 



Thanksgiving Song. 72. 

Autumn Winds. 147. 

October. 38. 

Indian Summer. 16. 

Snow, 83. Key in G. 

Coasting. 84. 

Sleeping Snow-drops, 83. Key E- 

minor. 
Spring is Coming. 106. 
Pussy Willow, 106. 
Days of Spring. 121. 
Pretty Pigeon, 114. 
Morning Song. 23. 
Alorning, 123. Bb. 
O. Tiny Boat. 138. 
Flag of Our Nation. 100. 
The Songbird's Farewell, 166. 

THIRTY-SIX SONGS FOR 
CHILDREN 

Grant-Schaefer 
A 

The Little Elf, i. 
Boat Song, 4. 
The Old Kitchen Clock. 5- 
Shadow March, 6. 
Happy Thought, 9. 
Foreign Children. 19. 
Dandelions, 20. 
Wah-wah-taysee. 27. 
Bumble Bees, 28. 
A Thought, 29. 

PLAY SONGS FROM THE 
SONG SERIES 

Bentlev 
A 
The Bells, i. 
The Wind. 2. 
Butterflies are Flying. 4. 
The Windmill. 5. 
Soldier Song. 7. 
The Kangaroo. 10. 
Indians, 11. 
The Frog. 13. 



Music 



43 



The Ball, 19. 

Who Are You? 20. 

The Squirrel, 40. 

Winter Song, 46. 

Thanksgiving Day, 48. 

Morning Greeting, 51. 

The Waves, 56. 

Good Morning, 60. 

Jack O'Lantern, 64. (This book 
also contains a large number of 
songs from The Song Primer.) 

THE CHILDREN'S AIESSIAH 

HOFER 



Cradle Hymn, 25. 

See Amid the Winter's Snow, 22. 

The Christmas Tree, 10. 



Come, Lovely May. 47. Use trans- 
lation in Bk. n. Eleanor Smith 
Course. 

The Violet, 51. 

Longing for Spring, 57. 

Clip, Clap, 60. 

Sleep, Darling, Sleep. 61. (A. H.) 
Key of F. 

Hunter's Song, 62. 

Winter, Good-bye, 63. Second 
Stanza better in Bk. H. E. S. 
Music Course. 

Cold Winter is Round Us. 105. 

(A. n.) 

The Shepherdess, 108. 

Shall I Show You How the 

Farmer? no. (A. IL) 
The Fir and Pine, in. 
God Knows, 122. 
Messenger of Spring, 42. (A. H.) 



ROUNDS, CAROLS AND 
SONGS 

Osgood 



The Little Dreamer. Better in Bb, 

5- 

Schnick Schnack, 8. 

There was a Little Woman. Bet- 
ter in Eb, 12. 

Lightly Row, 14. 

Fox and Goose, 15. 

A, B, C. 16. 

Pretty Birdlings, 6. 

Kitty Cat and the Mouse, 16. 

Come. Little Leaves, 18. 

Hop, Hop, Hop ! 19. 

Sleep, Baby, Sleep ! 20. 

I've a Little Dog at Home, 24. 

Fritz and Spitz, 30. 

Lullaby, 37. 

Morning Song, 43. 

The Boy and the Wren, 45. Bet- 
ter in G. 

Buy a Broom, 46. 



SMALL SONGS FOR SMALL 
SINGERS 

Neidlinger 
A 
Snow-flakes, 29. 
Mr. Duck and Mr. Turkey. 32. 
Air. Squirrel, 38. 
Jack Frost, 46. 
The Bluebird. 30. 
Little Yellowhead, 53. 
Mr. Frog, 28. Key of D prefer- 
able. 
The Windy Day. 50. 
The Caterpillar, 18. 
The Tin Soldiers. 31. Key (D). 
Tiddlely Winks, 19. Key (D). 
The Bunny. 13. 
The Chicken. 5. 
The See-Saw. 10. (Eb.) 
Falling Leaves, 12. 
The Whale, 6. 
The Robin's Song. 17. 
The Wise Old Owl, 20. 
Our Flag. 34. 



44 



Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



Polly, 35. 
The Kettle, 39. 
The Spider, 40. 
Little Birdie, 43. 
Bubbles, 52. 
Tick, Tock, 54. 

SONGS AND GAMES FOR 

LITTLE ONES 

Walker and Jenk 

A 

Grasshopper Green, 39, E. 

Over the Bare Hills Far Away, 

32, E. 
The Bluebird, 29. 
All the Birds Have Come Again, 

27. 
Canst Thou Count the Stars? 14. 
Morning Hymn, 7. Key Bb. 
Boat Song, 43. 
Come, Little Leaves, Bb. 
Where do all the Daisies Go? 47. 
Winter Jewels, 54. 
The Little New Year, 55, A. 
The First Christmas, 60. Eb. 
Shine Out, Oh Blessed Star, 63. 
Good-Morning Song, 60. 
Five Little Chickadees, 85. 
My Pigeon-House, 86. 

NATURE SONGS FOR CHIL- 
DREN 

Knowlton 

A 

Snowballs, 63. Makes good game. 

Patriotic Hymn, 102. 

August, 18. 

The Call of the Crow, 40. 

Dandelion, 32. 

The Dandelion, Cycle, 30. 

Kite Time, 76. 

The Postman, 56. 

The Scissors Grinder, 60. 

Feeding the Chickens, 59. 



SONGS OF THE CHILD 

WORLD 

Gaynor 

B 

Christmas Carol, 29. 

Sleighing Song, 70. 

Harvest of Squirrel and Honey 

Bee, 65. 
Thanksgiving Song, 67. 
The Tulips, 82. 
Our Flag, 30. 
Spinning the Yarn, 20. 
Grandma's Knitting Song, 22. 
The Black-Smith, 16. 

SONGS OF LIFE AND 

NATURE 

Eleanor Smith 

B 

Fairy Folk, 136. Stanzas i and 2. 

Maypole Dance, 28. 

SONG ECHOES FROM CHILD 

LAND 

Jenks and Rust 

B 

Santa Claus, 62. 

SONGS FOR LITTLE CHIL- 
DREN 

Part II 
Eleanor Smith 
B 
Thanksgiving Song, 23. 
Spin, Lassie, Spin, 16. 

ART SONG CYCLES 

MiESSNER — Bk. I 

B 

Touching, 11. 
Granddaddy Longlegs, 36. 
In Germany, 41. 



Music 



45 



THE SONG PRIMER 

Bentley 
(Teachers' Book) 
B 
The Leaflets, 46. 
The Shepherd Moon, 51. Eb. 
A Pretty Passenger, 44. 
Once I Got Into a Boat, 45. 
The Train, 15. 
The See-Saw, 20. 
The Sea Shell, 17. 
Wing Foo, 22. 
The Butterfly, 26. 

SEVEN LITTLE SONGS 
Grant- ScHAEFER 
B 
Spinning Song, 4. 
Slumber Song, 12. 

STEVENSON SONG BOOK 
B 

The Swing, 3. 
The Wind, 59- 
Windy Nights, 109. 
Singing, 39. 

AIOTHER GOOSE SET TO 

MUSIC 

Elliott 

B 

When the Snow is on the Ground, 

42. 
I Love Little Pussy, 51. 
Ding Dong, Bell, 8. 
Jack and Jill, 2. 
Little Bo-peep, 4. 
Lullaby, 76. 
Humpty Dumpty, 30. 

EDUCATION MUSIC COURSE 

Teachers' Edition 

B 

Where Do all the Daisies Go? 20. 



Thanksgiving Day, 40. (Words 

difficult.) 
May-Day Song, 47. 
In Shadowtown, 144. 
Fancies, 131. 
The Flag We Love, 36. 
A Christmas Song, 163. 
The Passing Soldiers, 171. 

NATURE SONGS FOR CHIL- 
DREN 

Knowlton 

B 

January, 6. 

Little Hickory Nut, 78. 

What Robin Told, 38. 

Rollicking Robin, 48. (Sing upper 

Bb each time.) 
In the Tree-top, 94. 

ROUNDS, CAROLS AND 
SONGS 

Osgood 

B 

Fiddle-De-Dee, 25. 

Tooriletoo, 29. 

Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, 34. 

Golden Slumbers, 52. (c.) 
Change " wantons " to " darl- 
ings." 

The Postilion, 56. 

Hunter's Son^, 62. 

Holy Night, 67. (c.) 

Child Jesus, 68. 

Spinning Song, 85. 

Sweet and Low, 96. (c.) 

The Little Soldier, 102. 

A Frog He Would a Wooing Go, 
116. 

The Shepherdess and the Cuckoo, 
118. 

Good King Wenceslas, 128. (c.) 



46 



Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



SONGS FOR SCHOOLS 

Farnsworth 
B and C 
America, 5. 
National Hymn, 6. 
Patriotic Hymn, 8. 
America the Beautiful, 7. 
The Red, White and Blue, 11. 
Star-Spangled Banner, 12. 
Dixie, 28. 

Old Folks at Home, 22. 
Old Kentucky Home, 25. 
The Harp that Once, 56. 
The Minstrel Boy, 40. 
All Through the Night, 70. 
Auld Lang Syne, 74. 
Weel May the Keel Row, 66, 
The Ash Grove, 50. 
Forth to the Battle, 38. 
The Hunt is Up, 44- 
The Jolly Miller, 46. 
Boola Song, 76. 
Fair Harvard, 82. 
Eton Boating Song, 84. 
Sans Souci, 87. 
Cornell Song, 98. 
Wassail Song, 138. 

Supplement 
Rule, Britannia. 
Hymn of Thanks. 
Silent Night. 
Angel of Peace. 
Now is the Month of Maying. 
Under the Greenwood Tree. 
Maypole Dance. 

Tenting on the Old Camp Ground. 
Old Black Joe. 
The Waits. 

ENGLISH FOLK SONGS FOR 

SCHOOLS 

Gould and Sharp 

B and C 

The Wraggle, Taggle Gipsies, O !, 

2. 



The Fox, 64. 

The Merry Haymakers, 54. 

A Frog He Would a Wooing Go, 

88. 
The Frog and the Mouse, 90. 
The Tailor and the Mouse, 100. 
Sir John Barleycorn, 58. 

FOLK SONGS FROM SOMER- 
SET 
Sharp and Marson 
B and C 
Blow Away the Morning Dew, 16. 
The Wraggle, Taggle Gipsies, O !, 

18. 
Lord Rendal, 46. 
Brennan on the Moor, 52. 

SONGS OF THE BRITISH 

ISLANDS 

Hadow 

B and C 

Rule, Britannia, 92. 

Under the Greenwood Tree, 66. 

Now is the Month of Maying, no. 

Maypole Dance. (Come, Lassie 

and Lad), 74. 
Heart of Oak, 65. 
The Spring is Coming, 60. 
The Harp That Once, 43. 
The Maypole, 78. 
Drink to Me Only With Thine 

Eyes, 52. 
All Through the Night, 44. 
The Keel Row, 25. 
Golden Slumbers, 21. 
The Jolly Miller, 16. 
The Hunt is Up, 2. 
God Save the King, i. 

THE CHILDREN'S MESSIAH 

HOFER 

B and C 
Carol, Brothers, Carol, 4. 
Christmas Day in the Morning, 7. 



Music 47 

Christmas Eve, i6. Ring Out, Wild Bells, ii. 

Three Kings of Orient, 26. The Fir-Tree, 164. 

What Child is This? 28. King Richard, Lion-heart, 87. 

O, Holy Night, 30. Harvest Song, 35. 

Silent Night, 33. 

SONG YEAR BOOK 
SONGS OF LIFE AND Helen Place 

NATURE C 

Eleanor Smith September, 9. 

October, 19. 
^ The Fir-Tree, 28. 

Pussy Willow's Secret, 16. Christmas Eve, 38. 

Snowwhite, 138. Sunlight in Winter, 58. 

Additional Songs Unclassified 

Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood Novello 

Come Lasses and Lads " 

Dabbling in the Dew " 

Dakota Indian Song Birchard 

Dance Song from Jutland " 

Frog and the Mouse, The Novello 

Irish Lullaby Birchard 

Jasmine Flower " 

Keeper, The Novello 

Keys of Canterbury, The " 

Looby Light " 

Lord Rendal " 

Mowing the Barley " 

My Man, John " 

Mosquito Serenade Birchard 

Now is the Month of Alaying " 

Oh No, John , Novello 

O, Sally, My Dear 

Roman Soldiers, The " 

Tailor and the Mouse Birchard 

Tree in the Wood, The Novello 

There Come Three Dukes a-Riding " 

Tic-e-tic-e-toc Birchard 

When I was a School Girl Novello 

Wraggle Taggle Gypsies, The " 

The Birchard Songs are all published in " loo Folk Songs," edited by C. C. Birch- 
ard, Boston, Mass. 

The Novello Songs may be purchased in different forms.* They are handled by 
the H. W. Gray Company, 2 West 4Sth Street, New York City. 

* Such as in single sheets (Broadside). 



ENGLISH 

The study of English naturally occupies an important place 
in the school program. Regarding it as the most efficient means 
of culture at our command, we make it the " core," as Dr. Nich- 
olas Murray Butler styles it, of our curriculum, devoting more 
time to it than to any other subject, and considering it the chief 
standard for measuring the progress and ability of our pupils. 

Our aim is the obvious one — to train the children to use their 
mother-tongue more efifectively in speaking and writing, and to 
gain some knowledge and appreciation of its literature. In 
school-room practice the subject groups itself as follows : 

1. Reading and Literature 

2. Composition, Language, and Grammar 

3. Spelling 

READING AND LITERATURE 

The first division, Reading and Literature, includes the 
work incident to the mechanical mastery of the printed page, 
practice in the art of oral and of silent reading, and the study of 
such selections from literature as have been judged appropriate 
to the various grades. 

The details of the work involved in gaining the mechanical 
mastery of the printed page referred to above are too well known 
to need explanation here. The books that have been found best 
suited to the purpose are mentioned in the outline that follows. 

In the second phase of the work in Reading and Literature 
which, for want of a better title, is called practice in the art 
of oral and of silent reading, the oral recitation is directed 
towards bringing about a free, simple, natural style of reading 
with clear, distinct enunciation and well-modulated, agreeable 
tones. For this practice reading books which are graded a year 
below the designated grade are used. This arrangement places 
in the child's hands a text that offers few technical difficulties 
and thus enables him to give his undivided attention to the prob- 
lem of oral expression. 

48 



English 49 

Beginning with the third grade, an increasing amount of time 
is given to silent reading. The object of this work is not only 
to cultivate the power to grasp the thought, which may be a 
main purpose in oral reading as well, but to develop speed. To 
gain this end various devices are resorted to. For instance, the 
children keep count of the number of words they can read in a 
minute and try to " beat " their own record. Throughout this 
work, though the emphasis may be on speed, thought-getting is 
constantly tested. The text books in the various subjects of the 
grade as well as the reading book furnish abundant material 
for silent reading. 

The third phase of work in the course in Reading and Litera- 
ture consists in the study of the masterpieces of English prose 
and verse that have been selected for the year. In the lower 
grades, where the children can do little reading themselves, the 
work is done principally by means of stories told by the teacher. 
As the child's ability to read grows, these stories naturally 
diminish in number, but this type of work is found so valuable 
that it is made use of even in the upper grammar grades. How 
varied the stories are in scope and character may be gathered 
from the outlines that follow. These lists are, of course, sug- 
gestive rather than fixed. Each teacher varies her stories from 
year to year, being guided in her selection by the particular needs 
of her class, or by some specific purpose that she may have in 
mind. 

The literature that is placed in the children's hands is selected 
on much the same principle; the needs and interests of the 
child, his ability, other subject matter of the grade, and the 
plans and purposes of the school in general, all enter as factors. 
As great a variety as is consistent with the controlling motives 
is introduced. The treatment naturally varies with the character 
of the selection and with the motive of its introduction. Long 
stories, such as " Heidi " and " Treasure Island," are read rapidly 
for their plot and their pictures, other shorter selections such as 
"Rip Van Winkle," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and 
Longfellow's " King Robert of Sicily," for careful character 
study; still others primarily for their humor, while others, espe- 
cially poems, are studied for their music, their pictures, and 
their power to inspire. 



50 Cnrriculmn of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Certain favorite selections are memorized in each grade. This 
list, too, varies with the class, with individual preferences, and 
with the teacher's purpose. Each grade, however, holds itself 
responsible for committing to memory a number of the finest 
selections on its list. These are reviewed from year to year 
and new ones are added that the children may have gradually 
stored in their minds some of the treasures that are their English 
birthright. 

COMPOSITION 

The second of the groups into which the English work of the 
school naturally divides itself is Composition. The term as 
here used is a broad one, embracing oral and written reproduc- 
tions in the form of riddles, jokes, anecdotes, stories, descrip- 
tions, topical recitations in history, geography, nature-study and 
other subjects of the grade, as well as original oral and written 
work along lines that appeal to the interests of the child, simple 
dramatization, and the writing of occasional verse. Acting on 
the principle that children learn their mother-tongue by imita- 
tion, the best models possible are placed before them both for 
conscious and unconscious imitation. In the lower grades the 
models are usually stories told by the teacher. This does not 
mean that all of the teacher's stories are reproduced ; only the 
shorter, simpler ones are used for this purpose. These are 
found most effective models, the child reproducing unconsciously 
the vocabulary, the expression, even the enunciation that he has 
heard. In the higher grades the style of an author is frequently 
studied and deliberately imitated by the pupils either orally or 
in writing. This does not imply a slavish imitation, one that 
curbs the child's spontaneity and encourages him to express 
himself in an unnatural, stilted style. It means rather a study 
of the idea embodied in the model and of the author's skill in 
presenting this idea, followed by the application of the author's 
methods to some experience of the child's own. For instance, 
in describing his first fishing excursion, Whittier dilates upon 
the pleasure he experienced when he received his first fishing- 
rod, next he dwells upon the delights of the walk over field and 
meadow to the trout-brook, then he describes his sensations at 
the catching of the first big fish and at its loss as it slipped from 



English 51 

the hook at the moment of landing, and finally he pictures his 
effort to overcome his disappointment and to persevere until he 
met v^ith success. 

In using this story as a model for imitation, the children may 
describe their first skating experience, or their first attempt at 
swimming, or at horse-back riding, following the general plan 
of the model, that is, dividing their story into scenes corre- 
sponding in character to those of the story imitated. They may 
also adopt the author's scheme of beginning with a sentence that 
provokes interest, his method of leading up to a climax, and 
even such of his words and phrases as please them. 

In the first three years most of the composition is oral. In 
addition to the retelling of stories, the children are encouraged 
to talk freely about the things in and out of school that interest 
them. They bring their pets to the class-room, birds, rabbits, 
gold-fish, turtles, and tell their classmates how they care for the 
little creatures, and describe their habits and cunning tricks. 
They bring unusual toys and explain their mechanism, they tell 
of visits to the farm, the park, the museum, and to other places 
of interest. The object of the work is primarily to develop the 
child's power of expression, but it also gives opportunity for 
some training in orderly arrangement and sequence. 

In the upper grades oral reproductions in the form of stories, 
anecdotes, and topical recitations in the various subjects of the 
grade play an important part. Here, too, free expression is 
encouraged; current topics are discussed, questions pertaining 
to individual, class, school, or civic honor and loyalty are talked 
over, debates are held, and individual experiences are related. 

Written work is begun toward the close of the first year. In 
this grade and in the second, the written composition is usually 
class or cooperative work, as only by this method can the forma- 
tion of bad habits of spelling and punctuation be avoided. (As 
an example of this kind of work see the lesson on " A Riddle " 
under the Composition Outline for the second grade.) Even in 
the third grade little individual written-work of an original char- 
acter is expected, and that only after such careful oral prepara- 
tion that there is no excuse for technical errors. 

In order that written composition may not be a bugbear, topics 



52 Curriciihnn of Horace Mann Elementary School 

are chosen in which the children are interested and about which 
they have an abundance to say; and sufficient preparation is 
made orally to clarify their thoughts, to teach them to organize 
their material and to give them confidence in their power of self- 
expression. On the other hand topics are avoided on which 
there is so much to say that a long theme is necessary. In fact, 
the subjects assigned are generally so limited in scope that they 
demand very brief treatment. Throughout the school short and 
frequent written exercises are the rule. Even in the upper 
grammar grades it is seldom that a theme more than a page in 
length is required. This, of course, debars such topics as " Joan 
of Arc," or " My Summer in Camp " and substitutes something 
more restricted as " Joan of Arc's Childhood," " Joan's Visions," 
" A Rainy Day in Camp," or " An Exciting Camp Experience." 
By thus limiting the length of the theme, we rob composition 
w^ork of its most dreaded feature, its mechanical laboriousness. 
Given an interesting topic on which he feels himself competent 
to write, and one that does not necessitate a tiresome amount 
of mechanical effort, the child goes at his task with confidence 
and pleasure. 

LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR 

The course in English includes also technical work in language 
and such facts and principles of grammar as contribute to the 
work in literature and composition. As a matter of economy 
the ordinary rules of capitalization and punctuation are taught 
in the lower grades, while the work in formal grammar is left 
for the last year of the elementary course, the sixth grade. This 
work is so systematized that each grade holds itself responsible 
for certain technical points in language as definitely as it holds 
itself responsible for prescribed arithmetical facts. 

SPELLING 

Much thought and attention has been given of late to the 
subject of spelling. Tests made in the various grades seem to 
prove without a doubt that better results are obtained when the 
lesson is taught in school than when the child studies it at home. 
These tests also establish the fact that there is great economy 



English 53 

of time in the former method. By means of the close concen- 
tration that the teacher demands as much is accompHshed in 
ten minutes of class-study as the child, left to his own devices, 
accomplishes in double that time. As a result of this investiga- 
tion, spelling throughout the grades is taught in the class room, 
the period being given in part to the teaching of the lesson, and 
in part to the testing of the work. The words to be taught have 
been selected with great care. About two thousand words are 
considered the basal vocabulary for the first eight grades, and 
they are taught in accordance with the following general direc- 
tions : 

Steps in Teaching Spelling 
Write one of the new words on the blackboard and teach it in accord- 
ance with the following plan. Then erase it and write the next word, 
teaching it in the same way. Continue in this way throughout the list. 

(a) While writing the word, pronounce it distinctly. 

(b) Develop the meaning orally either by calling for a sentence using 

the word or by giving its definition. 

(c) Divide the word into syllables. Call on pupils to spell orally by 

syllables. Have them indicate what part of the word presents 
difficulties, or whether the word contains parts they already know. 

(d) Have pupils write the word on practice paper several times, spell- 

ing it softly as they write. 

(e) Allow the class a moment in which to look at the word again, and 

then have them close their eyes and try to visualize it, or use 
any other device of a similar nature. Have considerable repeti- 
tion, both oral and written. 

After the new words of the day's lesson have been studied in this way, 
write on the blackboard the new words and several review words. Allow 
the class three or four minutes for studying independently the whole list, 
suggesting that each pupil emphasize the words he thinks most difficult. 
This time should be limited so that every pupil will attend vigorously 
and intensively. Call upon pupils individually and in concert to spell the 
whole list without looking at the board. Refer them to the board again 
when they hesitate. 

Erase all words from the blackboard and dictate to the class, using each 
word in a sentence first, then pronouncing it distinctly alone. 

General Recommendations 
I. Teach intensively two new words in Grades H and HI, and three 
in Grades IV, V, VI. Add four or five review words to constitute the 



54 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

combined list of words for the day's lesson. In their independent study 
of this combined list, encourage pupils to use the Horace Mann method 
of study, emphasizing those of greatest difficulty. 

2. Have each pupil keep an alphabetical list of troublesome individual 
words, and see that he reviews this frequently. Occasionally test him on 
this list. 

3. The teachers should form a class list of troublesome words and 
have a review lesson (with class drill) on these words about once a 
week. 

4. About every three weeks there should be a general review of all 
words taught. Some form of competition is desirable, such as spelling 
matches or team contests, with permanent records kept of team results. 

5. Beginning with Grade IV the habit of going to the dictionary for the 
spelling of a word should be started, and appropriate class exercises in 
the use of the dictionary should be systematically given. 

6. An important duty of the teacher is to develop a spelling conscious- 
ness. This may be done by making a pupil feel that he should always 
look over any written work to discover spelling errors, and that he should 
find out the spelling of a doubtful word from the dictionary or from some 
person before attempting to write it. 

7. Do not waste time during the spelling period in developing the 
definition of a word that is fairly well understood by the class. The 
contextual use of the word in a variety of sentences is a good and brief 
method of teaching its meaning. The class period should give a large 
amount of varied drill in the actual spelling of the new words of the 
lesson. 

8. The emphasis with younger children should be upon an auditory 
method of drill and with older children upon a visual method, but no 
single method should be used exclusively. The pupil should sec, hear, 
pronounce, and write. 

9. Remember that repetition should be accompanied by attention, and 
that motivation lessens the need of repetition; hence the folly of requir- 
ing pupils " to write a word twenty-five times." 

10. It is advisable to teach short groups of words in their natural 
relations. 

too cold there is 

to school all right 

two boys once again 

This is true particularly of homonyms. 

11. Avoid calling attention unnecessarily to the wrong form; for ex- 
ample, never say, "What wrong letter might be used in separate?" 

12. In the conduct of spelling matches avoid the danger (a) of giving 
the poor spellers the least drill, and (b) of having incorrect spellings 
repeated too often. 



English 



55 



OUTLINE OF WORK IN READING AND LITERATURE 
FIRST GRADE 

Reading Material 

Primer Free and Treadwell 

First Reader Free and Treadwell 

First Reader Edson-Laing 

Story Hour Reader, First Header Coe and Christie 

Child-Lore Dramatic Reader Bryce 

Tommy Tinker's Book 1 „, . , ,, 

T. .,. i^ rr ^Blaisdell 

I wilight 1 own J 

Caldecott Picture Book 

Mother Goose 

Poems Studied 



*Bed in Summer 

Windy Nights 

What Does Little Birdie Say 

Sleep, Baby, Sleep 

The Snow-Bird 

Daisies 

My Shadow 

The Cow 

The Swing 

Singing 

The Wind 

Over in the Meadow 

Who Stole the Bird's Nest? 

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Jane Taylor 



IStevenson 

Tennyson 
German Lullaby 

>Frank Dempster Sherman 



'Stevenson 

Christina Rosetti 
Olive A. Wadsworth 
Lvdia Maria Child 



Stories Told by the Teacher 

Sleeping Beauty 

The Musicians of Bremen 

The Discontented Pine Tree 

The Three Pigs 

The Three Bears 

The Half Chick 

Little Red Riding Hood 



-Grimm 
Andersen 

Green Fairy Book, Lang 

Blue Fairy Book, Lang 



The first four poems on the list are memorized. 



56 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



The Hare and the Tortoise ^ 
The Boy and the Wolf 
The Dog and his Shadow 
The Sun and the Wind 
The Lion and the Mouse 
The Elves and the Shoemaker 
The Gingerbread Man 
The Hen and the Grain of 

Wheat 
Another Little Red Hen 
The Pied Piper of Hamelin 
Why the Trees Keep Their 

Leaves all Winter 
The Old Woman and Her Pig 
Epaminondas and his Auntie 
The Wheat Field 
Pig Brother 
The North Wind 
Santa Glaus and the Mouse 
The Christ Child 

Piccola 

Prince Harweda 
Raggylug 

Chicken Little 

Three Little Goats Gruff 

The Origin of the Winds (Es- 
kimo Story) 

Peggy's Garden and What 
Grew Therein 



-Aesop 

1 

I Stories to Tell to Children, 
[ Sara Cone Bryant 

How to Tell Stories to Chil- 
dren, Sara Cone Bryant 



Laura E. Richards 

The Child's World, Poulsson 

"1 Story Hour, Kate Douglas 

J Wiggin 
Story Hour, Harrison 
Ernest Thompson-Seton 

"IChild Life — Second Reader, 

f Blaisdell 
Graded Literature Readers — 
First Book 

Smithsonian Report 
Celia Thaxter 



SECOND GRADE 

Reading Material 
Edson-Laing Reader Book Two 

The Progressive Road to Burchill, Ettinger, and 

Reading Shimer 



English 



57 



Second Reader 

Story Hour Reader, Second 

Reader 
Merry Animal Tales 
Second Reader 
Hiawatha (selections) 
Robinson Crusoe 
The Dutch Twins 
Children's First Book of 

Poetry 



Hervey and Hix . 

Coe and Christie 

Bigham 

Free and Treadwell 

Longfellow 

Baldwin 

Lucy Fitch Perkins 

Emilie Kip Baker 



Poems Studied 



*Blow, Wind, Blow 

The Owl 

Where Go the Boats 

Gaelic Lullaby 

The Duel 

The Sun's Travels 

Foreign Children 

The Elf-Man 

A Day 

Thanksgiving Fable 

The Elf and the Dormouse 

The Rainbow 

The Firefly 

The Moon 

The Owls 

Sleep Song 

Indian Mother's Lullaby 

Lullaby of the Iroquois 



James Whitcomb Riley 

Tennyson 

Stevenson 

Unknown 

Eugene Field 

Stevenson 

John Kendrick Bangs 
Emily Dickinson 

.Oliver Herford 



Hiawatha — Longfellow 



Charles Myall 
Unknown 



Stories Told or Read by the Teacher 

Phaeton — sun god 
Baucis and Philemon 
David and Goliath 
Christmas Story 



IStories of Old Greece, Firth 
1 Bible 



* The first four poems on the list are memorized. 



58 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



The Fire Bringer 

The Story of Little Tavwots 

How Brother Rabbit fooled 

the Whale and Mr. Elephant 
The Little Jackal and the 

Alligator 
Billy Beg and his Bull 
Rumpelstiltskin 
The Fir Tree 
Ugly Duckling 
Little Maia 

Legend of Saint Christopher 

The Legend of Arbutus 

Cinderella 

Little One Eye 

The Twelve Brothers 

Hans in Luck 

Hansel and Gretel 

Mother Holle 

The Queen Bee 

The Golden Windows 

Jamie's Lesson 

The Crow and the Pitcher 

The Man, the Boy, and the 

Donkey 
The Princess and the Goblin 
The Hero of Harlem 



Stories to Tell to Children, 
How to Tell Stories to Chil- 
dren. 
Best Stories to Tell to Chil- 
dren. 
Sara Cone Bryant 



Andersen 

iSchonberg Cotta Family 
f (adapted) 
IThe Children's Hour, 
J Bailey and Lewis 



^Grimm 



I Short Stories, Laura E. 
I Richards 



lAesop 



}' 



Macdonald 



THIRD GRADE 

Reading Material 



Story Hour Third Reader 

Edson-Laing Reader 

Third Reader 

Pinocchio 

Alice in Wonderland 

In the Davs of Giants 



Coe and Christie 
Book Three 
Hervey and Hix 
Collodi 
Lewis Carroll 
Abbev Farwell Brown 



English 



59 



Animal Folk Tales Anna Stanley 

Adventures of a Brownie Dinah Muloch Craik 

Children's First Book of Poetry Emilie Kip Baker 



Poems Studied 



*Psalm XXIII 

The Land of Story Book 

A Visit from St. Nicholas 

The Children's Hour 

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod 

Fairy Folk 

Thanksgiving Day 

Seven Times One 

Good-night and Good-morning 

Wild Geese 

Romance 

One, Two, Three 

Cloud Sheep 

October 

Japanese Lullaby 



Stevenson 
Moore 
Longfellow 
Eugene Field 
Allingham 
Lydia Maria Child 
Jean Ingclow 
Lord Houghton 
Celia Thaxter 
Gabriel Setoun 
H. C. Bunner 
Clinton Scollard 
Helen Hunt Tackson 
Eugene Field 



Stories Told or Read by the Teacher 



The Story of Joseph 
Arachne 
Ares 

Snow-AVhite and the Seven 
Dwarfs 

The Stag 

The Golden Cobweb 

The Endless Tale 

The Wise Men of Gotham 

King Alfred Stories 

Rikki-Tiki-Tavi 

Just So Stories 

Lobo 



Bible 

^lythland, Beckwith 

. Grimm 

Stories to Tell to Children, 
How to Tell Stories to 
Children, 

Sara Cone Bryant 

Fifty Famous Stories, 
Baldwin 

Jungle Book, Kipling 
Ernest Thompson-Seton 



The first four selections on the list are memorized. 



60 



Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



The Bear Story 

Uncle Remus (selections) 

The Christmas Angel 

The Peterkin Papers 

Daffydowndilly 



James Whitcomb Riley 
Joel Chandler Harris 
Katharine Py^e 
Lucretia Hale 
Hawthorne 



FOURTH GRADE 



Selections Read and Studied 
*Psalm C 
America 
Seal's Lullaby 
The Night Wind 
September 
Song of the River 
Norse Lullaby 
Seein' Things at Night 
The Camel's Hump 
The Bell of Atri 
The Village Blacksmith 
Out of the Morning 
Fern Song 
St. Luke n:8-i4 
The Pied Piper of Hamelin 
King of the Golden River 
Water Babies 
Child Classics — Third Reader 



Samuel Smith 
Kipling 
Eugene Field 
Helen Hunt Jackson 
Kingsley 

lEugene Field 

Kipling 

Longfellow 

Emily Dickinson 

John Tabb 

Bible 

Browning 

Ruskin 

Kingsley 

Alexander 



Fourth Year Language Reader Baker-Carpenter 
Stories Told or Read by the Teacher 



Daniel in the Lion's Den 
The W^anderings of Ulysses 
(selections) 

Damon and Pythias 

The Gulf in the Forum 

Quiquern 

White Seal 

Uncle Remus (selections) 



Bible 

iLamb 

1 Ethics for Children, 
j Ella Lyman Cabot 
Livy — x'Vdapted 

Ijungle Book, Kipling 

Joel Chandler Harris 



The first four selections on the list are memorized. 



English 



61 



The King of the Birds 

Faithful John 

The Seven Ravens 

What the Goodman does is 

Right 
The Crab and his Mother 
Bruce and the Spider 
Diddie Dumps and Tot 
Robin Hood Stories 
Robert of Sicily 
Typical Stories from the life 

of Lincoln 
The Patient Cat 



Grimm 



Andersen 

Aesop 

Scott 

Pyrnelle 

Pyle and others 

Sara Cone Bryant 



Laura E. Richards 



FIFTH GRADE 
Selections Read and Studied 
*Psalm XXIV 

Abou Ben Adhem Leigh Hunt 

The Charge of the Light 

Brigade 
The Sandpiper 
Birds of Killingworth 
Paul Revere's Ride 
Lochinvar 
The Brook 
The Eagle 
The Song Sparrow 
The Voice of Spring 
The Farm- Yard Song 
The Inchcape Rock 
Daffodils 
The Corn Song 
Yussouf 

Riverside Fourth Reader 
Fifth Year Language Reader 
Heidi 

Wonder Book 
Tanglewood Tales 

* The first four selections on the list are memorized 



Tennyson 
Celia Thaxter 

^Longfellow 

Scott 

iTennyson 

Van Dyke 

Felicia Hemans 

Trowbridge 

South ey 

Wordsworth 

Whittier 

Lowell 

Van Sickle & Seegmiller 

Baker & Carpenter 

Spiri 

Hawthorne 



62 



Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



Stories Read or Told by the Teacher 

David and Goliath '] 

David and Jonathan iBible 

David and Saul | 

Merry Adventures of Robin 
Hood 

King Arthur Stories (selec- 
tions) 

The Wonderful Adventures of 
Nils (selections) 

The Birds' Christmas Carol 
(selections) 

Aladdin and the Wonderful 
Lamp 

The Cat that Walked by 
Himself 



Howard Pyle 

Selma Lagerlof 
Wiggin 
Arabian Nisfhts 



William Tell 



1 lust So Stories, 
j Kipling 
1 Child Classics, Fourth Reader 
f — Knowles 



Moni, the Goat Boy 

The Little Runaway 

The Mouse and the Moonbeam Field 

The Dog of Flanders Ouida 



ISpiri 



SIXTH GRADE 
Selections Read and Studied 
*Psalm CXXI 
The Landing of the Pilgrim 

Fathers 
The Sea 
Patriotism 
Opportunity 
King Robert of Sicily 
The Skeleton in Armor 
Courtship of Miles Standish 
How They Brought the Good 

News from Ghent to Aix 
Incident of the French Camp 
Old Tubal Cain 



Hemans 

Barry Cornwall 

Scott 

Edward Roland Sill 

"Longfellow 



.Browning 



Charles Mackay 



English 



63 



Auld Lang Syne 

My Heart's in the Highlands 

O Captain ! My Captain ! 

Cokimbus 

Old Ironsides 

The Overland Mail 

Snowbound (selections) 

Gettysburg Address 

Kipling 

Stevenson 

Riley 

Horatius 

Rip Van Winkle 

Legend of Sleepy Hollow 

Treasure Island 

Riverside Fifth Reader 



Burns 

Whitman 

Joaquin Miller 

Holmes 

Kipling 

Whittier 

Lincoln 
1 Special programmes arranged 
y from selections from these 
J authors 

Macaulay 

Irving 

Stevenson 

Van Sickle and Seegmiller 



Selections Read or Told by the Teacher 



The Story of Ruth 

The Three Questions 

The Great Stone Face 

Sir Galahad 

Sinbad the Sailor 

The Griffin and the Minor 

Canon 
The Merry Adventures of 

Robin Hood (selections) 

The Ship that Found Herself 

The Perfect Tribute 
Story of Jean Valjean 
The Christmas Carol 
Grandmother's Story of Bunker] 



Bible 
I Twenty-three Tales, 
j Tolstoi 

Hawthorne 

Tennyson 

Arabian Nights 

iFanciful Tales, Stockton 

I Howard Pyle 

The Day's Work, 

Kipling 
Mary R. Shipman Andrews 
Victor Hugo 
Dickens 



Hill 



j Oliver Wendell Holmes 



The first four selections on the list are memorized. 



64 Curricithim of Horace Mann Elementary School 

OUTLINE OF WORK IX LANGUAGE AND 
CO^IPOSITION 

FIRST GRADE 
Oral Composition. (Almost all of the work is oral.) 

1. Reproduction. Stories told in school and at home. 

2. Original work. 

Description of pets, toys, etc. 

Accounts of trips and holiday experiences. 

Dramatization of simple stories. 

Written Composition. 

L Letters (the purpose and substance of which vary with the 
interest and ability of the class). 

These letters, consisting of a sentence or two composed 
by the children, are written on the blackboard by the 
teacher, and the pupils are told that as soon as they can 
write them themselves, they may post them. 
2. Simple statements (reproducing in a few sentences stories 
told in class). 

Method. 

The word or phrase is written on the board in a large, free 
hand. The children trace it in the air with the same free arm 
movement. The word is erased. Several children go to the 
board and try to write it from memory. Letters that give 
trouble are worked on individually until the word can be easily 
written. Each word is taken up in a similar manner. Much 
attention is given to good writing position and to freedom of 
movement. 

Language Forms. 

The following language forms are presented through the work 
in composition and are fixed by frequent practice : 

Capital letter at beginning of sentence. 

Period at end of sentence. 

Child's own name. 

Pronoun /. 



English 65 

SECOND GRADE 
Oral Composition. (The work is largely oral.) 

1. Reproduction. 

Stories told in school and at home. 

The teacher's stories which are used for reproduction are the 
simpler ones listed in the Outline of Work in Reading and Lit- 
erature, Second Grade. 

2. Original. 

Descriptions. 

Simple experiments in physics. 

Excursions to garden, etc. 

How to play a game. 

How to make things. 

How to go from school to home. 
Rhyming games — (Dumb Crambo). 

Written Composition. 

1. Original Riddles. 

A sample riddle with the method employed in teaching is given 
below. 

2. Original class rhymes. 

3. Descriptions of the season — weather. 

4. Stories of imagination: If Jack-o-lantern should come to 

Hfe, what would he say? (Two or three sentences.) 

5. Stories suggested by pictures. 

A Riddle 
One child is sent out of the room. Those remaining decide to 
make a riddle about the cat. One child suggests, / can climb 
a tree; another / see in the dark. When the sentences meet with 
class approval they are written on the board by the teacher. 
The riddle may then read — 

I can climb a tree. I see in the dark. 
I can purr and mew. I do not like dogs. 
What am I? 

The child who was sent out of the room is now recalled to 
guess the riddle. The paragraph is then studied for capitaliza- 
tion, spelling, punctuation. Finally it is written from memory, 



o6 Curriculum of Horace Maun Elementary School 

or if it is too long for a pure memory exercise it may be written 
from a copy on the board from which the specially studied words 
have been erased. 

Language Forms. 

The following language forms are presented through the work 
in composition and are fixed by frequent practice : 

Child's own address — capital and punctuation marks involved. 

Abbreviations, Mr., Mrs., Dr., and names of months. 

Capital in days of week, months, holidays. 

Dates. 

Capital at beginning of each line of poetry. 

Interrogation point. 

THIRD GRADE 
Oral Composition. 

1. Reproduction. 

Stories told in school and at home. 

The teacher's stories which are used for reproduction are the 
simpler ones listed in the Outline of Work in Reading and Lit- 
erature, Third Grade. 

2. Original. 

Stories of personal experience. 

Descriptions of simple experiments, of excursions, of 
work done in manual training and nature-study. 

(In all story telling a special point is made of arrange- 
ment, telling the story in scenes, to develop paragraph 
idea.) 

Written Composition. 

Oral work still predominates in this grade. Careful prepara- 
tion is made for all written work by means of class discussion 
and by the writing of difficult words on the blackboard. 

1. Reproduction. 

2. Short poems written from memory. 

3. Original class stories. 

4. Original poems. 

5. Letters. Children are given heading and closing. 

6. Description of trips and of other lines of work. 



English 67 

Language Forms. 

The following language forms are presented through work 
in composition and are fixed by frequent practice : 

Exclamation point. 

Contractions as don't, won't, I'm, I'll, etc. 

Capitals in names of places. 

Abbreviations as needed. 

Indentation of paragraphs — paragraph idea developed. 

Friendly letter form, including addressing of envelope, intro- 
duced. Children are not held responsible for heading and 
close of letter. These are written on board by teacher and 
copied by class whenever a letter is written. 

Homonyms ; 

To too two here hear 

their there our hour 

FOURTH GRADE 

From the fourth grade on, oral composition is not distin- 
guished from written in the outline. 
Reproduction. 

Different ways of expressing a thought. 
Poems and short prose selections written from memory. 
Letters — friendly. 
Stories suggested by piciures. 
Original fables in imitation of model. 
Original stories. 
Original poems. 
Dialogues. 
Dramatizations. 

Language Forms. 

The following language forms are presented through the work 
in composition and are fixed by frequent practice : 

Apostrophe in the singular possessive case. 

The undivided quotation. 

Comma in a series. 

Capitalization and punctuation of titles of books, poems, etc. 



68 Curricuhini of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Friendly letter form — addressing envelope emphasized. 

Stricter attention to form and margins. 

Paragraph idea continued — writing from outlines. 

Common homonyms and abbreviations. 

Alphabetical arrangement of lists of words beginning with 

different letters ; beginning with the same letter — use of 

dictionary. 

FIFTH GRADE 
Reproduction. 

Different ways of expressing a thought. 
Poems and short prose selections written from memory. 
Letters — the friendly letter — the social note. 
Practice in changing from one sentence form to another. 
Stories, fables, and descriptions in imitation of model. 
Stories suggested by pictures. 
Original endings for stories. 
Dialogues. 
Dramatizations. 

Reports of excursions and lectures. 
Original stories and accounts of personal experiences. 
Original poems. 

Language Forms. 

The following language forms are presented through the work 
in composition and are fixed by frequent practice: 

Apostrophe in singular and plural possessive. 

Divided and undivided quotations. 

Comma — in series, in address, after yes and no. 

Capitalization of words derived from names of peoples and 
places. 

Letter form; informal social notes. 

Paragraphs — the three-paragraph form in composition : the be- 
ginning, the middle, the closing. 

Use of dictionary — simplest diacritical marks. 

Kinds of sentences : 

Declarative, Interrogative, 
Imperative, Exclamatory. 



English 69 

SIXTH GRADE 
Reproduction. 

Different ways of expressing a thought. 
Poems and short prose selections written from memory. 
Letters : — social notes, friendly letters, business letters. 
Stories in imitation of model. 
Stories suggested by pictures. 

Original beginnings — original endings for stories. 
Dialogues. 
Dramatizations. 
Character sketches. 
Explanation of processes — definite directions for doing things 

and for finding places. 
Reports of lectures and excursions. 
Original stories and accounts of personal experiences. 
Application of proverbs. 

Expansion of topic sentence into paragraph. 
Description of picture suggested by lines of poetry or prose. 
Descriptions of persons and places. 
Original poems. 

Language Forms and Grammar. 

The following language forms and facts in grammar are pre- 
sented through work in composition and literature. They are 
fixed by means of frequent and special exercises : 

Business letter forms. 

Paragraph. Logical arrangement of sentences in paragraph ; 

the three-paragraph form in composition continued, namely ; 

beginning, middle, closing. 
Use of dictionary for spelling, for meaning, for pronounciation. 
Subject and predicate, complete and simple. 
Phrase, adjective and adverbial. 
Recognition of the parts of speech. 



NATURE-STUDY 

Nature-study appears upon the official program as occurring 
two or three times a week for the first five years of the ele- 
mentary school, — the periods occupying twenty minutes in the 
first three grades and a half-hour in the fourth and fifth grades. 
But as the work is often outdoors, in the garden or campus 
or parks, we take advantage of fair weather and go forth as 
opportunity offers ; or, if the children are tired from other work, 
they go to the garden to dig, or just to see " what is happening." 
Again some of our best work is done before school or during 
recess or in a five-minute impromptu lesson on some specimen 
brought in by an eager child who wants to know more about it. 

In regard to subject matter, whatever belongs to the natural 
environment of the normal child is legitimate material. Every 
individual is the center of his own universe, and the naturally 
widening circles of his environment furnish new material from 
year to year. Our subject matter includes the animals and 
plants that are the sources of our everyday food, clothing, and 
shelter; animals and plants that are beneficial or injurious in 
the production of these sources ; animals that make good pets ; 
plants that make beautiful our windows, gardens, and parks ; 
and such wild flowers as are within reach of the children. 

Our resources for material are greater than our city environ- 
ment suggests at first sight. To begin with, we have our win- 
dow-gardens and such aquaria and vivaria as it seems wise to 
keep in our school-rooms, and a school-garden which, though 
too small to allow much individual work, is yet of oriceless 
value in that it gives the children sufficient practical experi- 
ence in gardening to enable them to make gardens of their own 
during the long summer vacation if they have any possible 
opportunity. Also we have a small greenhouse where v^e grow 
plants in winter and where we keep some of our larger pets. 
There are still a few vacant lots within easy reach, and we 
make the most of the Lower Campus of Columbia University 

70 



Nature-Study 71 

which is just across the street. Riverside and Morningside 
parks are available and also the Rambles in Central Park which 
is our favorite place for bird-study. Afternoon outings and 
excursions to the Palisades across the Hudson or to Van Cort- 
landt Park and vicinity are frequent, and the work in the Fourth 
and Fifth grades is supplemented by trips to the American 
Museum of Natural History, and to the Botanical and Zoolog- 
ical Gardens in the Bronx. 

Almost without exception the children of the Horace Mann 
School spend their summers out of the city, but they do not 
return to us in the fall with any uniformity of experience. In 
order then to give our First Grade children a common experience, 
we take them to a farm for a day. This is followed by a visit 
to a city market, so that they may realize that back of the 
market is the farm and garden. They lay out a miniature farm 
in the sand-pile, and begin gardening by gathering seeds to 
plant in the spring. 

In October, each First Grade child plants a hyacinth bulb in 
a pot and puts it away in the cold and dark until it is time 
to bring it out to blossom for Easter, when it is taken home 
to mother. They watch the earth getting ready for winter; 
they bring in caterpillars from the garden and watch them make 
cocoons ; they see a squirrel's nest in the park and watch the 
squirrel to find out how he gets ready for winter. In the 
spring they plant the seeds that they saved, watch the growth 
and flowering of their hyacinths, and see a moth or butterfly 
come out of a cocoon. Wherever it is possible to carry over 
a line of work from fall to spring it is done to the end that the 
children may see that nature-study is a continued story and not 
just a picture-book. 

In the winter when the supply of material is lowest, the visit- 
ing rabbit comes and spends a week or more in a big cage 
in the school-room. By watching him the children try to find 
out all the things that a rabbit can do. They learn how a 
rabbit takes care of himself, what his natural home is like, 
what he eats and where he gets his food, how he spends the 
winter and what keeps him warm, how he keeps himself clean, 
who his enemies are and how he protects himself from them. 



72 CurriciihiDi of Horace Mann Elementary ScJiooI 

They decide that the rabbit makes a good pet because he is 
clean and pretty and sometimes playful, and because he is con- 
tented and happy. Finally they consider what they themselves 
can do to make him more contented and happy. Except for 
aquaria and small vivaria we consider the visiting pet more 
desirable and hygienic in the school-room than the permanent 
one. 

The spring garden work of the First Grade is carried over 
into the Second Grade in the fall and the children gather their 
flowers for the school-room, to take home to mother or to send 
to some sick child. In order to have flowers to send to sick chil- 
dren in the spring, they plant a bed of bulbs in the garden in the 
fall. They add to their knowledge of the first year the names 
of more flowers, trees and birds, choosing those that naturally 
fall within the widening circle of interest and environment. 
They become interested in a new line of work, — simple experi- 
ments or problems involving the collection of considerable ma- 
terial : they find out how a plant gets out of a seed by planting 
seeds between glass and blotting-paper; they learn why sunlight 
is necessary by putting seedlings in a dark closet; they find out 
how plants scatter their seeds by gathering all kinds of seeds 
and fruits and examining them for hairs, wings, hooks and other 
devices ; they become interested from a new standpoint in the 
vegetables to which they were introduced the first year and get 
together all the kinds they can find in the garden and market, 
grouping them according to the part of the plant that is eaten, — 
root, leaf, stem, flower or seed. 

In the Third Grade, the fall work opens with a continuation 
of plant propagation. They set out a new strawberry bed and 
start cuttings in individual pots for the geraniimi-bed that sup- 
plies the school window-boxes. The Third Grade has owned 
and made a success of the geranium-bed for seven years. 

Another line of work dealing with new material in the Third 
Grade is that of beautifying and caring for the grounds about 
one's home. While it is true that very few of the children in 
our school have a city home with a yard of sufficient size to 
admit of much decoration or landscape-gardening, still many 
of them have summer homes in the countrv, and almost without 



Natiire-Stxidy 7Z 

exception they aspire to having some day a home with a yard 
and garden or better still — a farm. We believe in fostering 
this healthy and normal ambition to the extent of giving the 
children of this grade a practical knowledge of shrubs and vines 
as well as of trees and flowers and so to secure their future 
independence of the landscape gardener. Perhaps no series of 
lessons throughout the entire course of nature-study rouses more 
interest than the study of vines. We begin by going out on 
the street and into the garden and finding all the vines that we 
can, with one question only in mind, — " How do vines climb ?" 
We learn that the Japanese ivy climbs by means of tiny suck- 
ers, that the bean and morning glory have twining stems, the 
clematis has twisting leaf-stalks, the English ivy has rootlets, 
the grape and pumpkin have tendrils, and the crimson rambler 
has reflexed prickles or " turned-back stickers " as one child 
put it. This problem involves others, and our next work is to 
find out what support is needed by each kind of vine. The chil- 
dren discover for themselves that the Japanese ivy grows well 
only on stone or brick, the English ivy requires soil-filled crevices 
for its rootlets and does not take kindly to our new American 
walls, the bean needs a pole, the morning glory a string, the 
grape a trellis, etc. We discuss the problem of why vines climb 
and then turn our attention to the uses of vines. Again the 
children are happy in finding out for themselves that some vines 
make good shade for a porch, or serve as a screen, or furnish 
both fruit and shade like the grape, or cover up ugly walls like 
the Japanese ivy. Then the question of relative beauty is dis- 
cussed. Seasonal factors enter into this question, — the luxuriant 
growth of the summer foliage of the moonvine, the brilliant 
autumn coloring of the woodbine and Japanese ivy, the exquisite 
purple blossoms of the wistaria in the spring, and the bright 
berries of the bittersweet in winter. The school-room becomes 
a place of vines ; its walls are gay with bittersweet, and there 
are pots of English and German ivy on the window-brackets ; 
gorgeous sprays of woodbine are brought in for an art-lesson, 
and what the children like best of all, the windows are full of 
individual pots of growing beans. In each pot stands a straight 
miniature pole a yard high, made by the owner in the hand-work 



74 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

class, and the beans climb up the poles making a fine effect when 
the pots are placed side by side. The children now work out 
two more problems : " Where does the vine grow, and how 
much does it grow in a day?" These questions are solved by 
marking short spaces of uniform length with India ink along 
the stem. Frequently the bean-vines blossom and produce very 
creditable pods of beans. 

It is our purpose at the end of the third year to have the 
children somewhat familiar with such sources of their food, 
clothing, and shelter as may be found either wild or cultivated' 
within a few miles of New York City. Whatever then comes 
upon this list is legitimate material for the first three grades. 

The work of the Fourth Grade supplements that of the Third 
Grade by widening the environmental circle so as to include the 
sources of such things in daily use as cannot be produced or 
profitably raised near home. We raise or attempt to raise in 
our school-garden such things as flax, cotton and hemp; wheat, 
rye, oats and barley ; peanuts, tobacco, some of the mints, and 
the castor-oil plant. If our cotton-bolls are immature and our 
peanuts small when frost kills the plants, our boys and girls 
get a practical lesson on the effect of climate. Friends in the 
south often send us luxuriant plants with bursting bolls of ripe 
cotton. We place the stunted plants from our own garden beside 
those from the southern plantation, and with the help of our 
geographies and encyclopedias work out the causes of the differ- 
ence. Rainfall, temperature, length of season, soil and altitude 
are taken into consideration, and the cotton-region of our own 
country is traced on the map. Plantation life before the sixties 
is pictured and also present methods of raising cotton. The 
invention of the cotton-gin and its effect on subsequent history 
is touched upon, each child having previously tried to separate 
the cotton from the seeds. In doing this, they make the discovery 
that cotton serves the same purpose as the hairs of the milkweed 
seed, namely, as a device for seed dissemination. The effect 
upon the fiber of cultivation is then explained, and the series of 
lessons ends with an exhibition of samples of everything made 
of cotton that can be collected by the children. 

Nature-studv in the Fifth Grade is confined to two main sub- 



Nature-Study 75 

jects, — to forestry which occupies the first half of the year, and 
to the study of birds during the remainder of the time. A more 
detailed study is made of the trees that the pupils already know 
something about, and new ones are added to the list. This is 
largely outdoor work. From time to time the New York 
Botanical Garden has furnished us with valuable material for 
school-room use. As an aid to tree recognition, we have some 
years used a key that was made especially for our children and 
our trees. Always each child is provided with a portfolio and 
the Mumford pictures of familiar trees as a sort of working basis. 
To this portfolio they add their leaf collections and other 
material. 

The industrial and aesthetic value of the different trees is 
dwelt upon, the geographical distribution of our park trees is 
considered, and our native trees compared as to the length of 
time that they retain their foliage. One winter month is devoted 
to the tree from the physiological standpoint. This is no more 
or less than plant physiology, and the boys and girls become 
greatly interested in the simple experiments that show absorp- 
tion, conduction, transpiration, starch-formation, and food-stor- 
age. This work is followed by a series of lessons upon the 
enemies of trees which are of vital interest when one under- 
stands that when caterpillars eat the leaves, the manufacture of 
starch is suspended ; that when mice gnaw the bark through the 
cambium layer, conduction is interfered with; and that when 
fungi ramify through the pores in the wood of the trunk, they 
steal the prepared food of the tree or even feed upon its tissue, 
and so the life of the tree is doomed. It is easy to pass from 
the individual tree which has now become an organic living thing 
with its own life-problems to the forest and its problems. 

The study of birds has its charms for people of all ages, and 
a few months devoted to this subject leave our boys and girls 
with a desire to go on and learn more and more as the years 
go by. A series of the Mumford pictures illustrating the more 
common or interesting birds is added to the portfolio, and each 
child as well as each room starts a bird list. While we are 
hampered in that it is difficult to take our classes out with profit 
for the study of wild living birds, still we spend one or more 



7(i CitrriculuDi of Horace Maun Elcuientary School 

mornings in the Rambles in Central Park, which is acknowledged 
to be one of the finest centers for the study of migrating birds 
in the country, and we visit the birds in the Zoological Garden 
as a class, in groups or individually. To teach our pupils the 
intelligent use of the museums, public gardens, and other oppor- 
tunities provided by the city, is one of the aims of our department. 

From these brief notes it will be seen that our w^ork has a 
large element of ** doing " ; that we are trying to teach our chil- 
dren to interpret nature for themselves; that we are starting 
them on lines of work that they can follow up individually ; that 
we are providing them with happy and healthful outdoor em- 
ployment and recreation for afternoons, holidays, summer vaca- 
tions, and for leisure throughout life; that through a love and 
appreciation of the beautiful they are led to protect and to help 
nature, — to protect the birds and wild flowers and to care for 
the parks ; that they are led to judge intelligently of the values 
of life and to destroy (as tenderly as may be) the pests and 
those forms of life that are injurious or destructive to higher or 
more valuable species. 

Our work is never quite the same for any two years. Some 
subjects have been eliminated after being tried out; others are 
temporarily dropped or omitted from lack of time, while new 
ones are experimented upon and added from time to time. In 
the outline that follows, no single year has seen the completion 
of all lines of work in every grade, but these are the subjects 
that have proved of most value to us. 

FIRST GRADE 
Pl.\nt-Life 
Flowers. Learn to recognize the following — 
In the fall: 

Wild : Goldenrod. aster, queen's lace, butter and eggs. 
Cultivated: Pansy, geranium, morning-glory, sunflower, 
marigold, zinnia, nasturtium, California poppy, salvia, and 
chrysanthemum. 
In the spring: 

Wild : Spring beauty, hepatica. blood-root, adder's tongue. 



Nature-Study 77 

violet — blue, white, and yellow, dandelion, jack-in-pulpit, 
marsh marigold, daisy, buttercup, and clover. 

Seeds : Collect several kinds from the garden and put away care- 
fully for the spring planting. 

Trees: Oak, maple, willow, chestnut, pine and fir (Christmas). 

Vegetables : Learn the names of the common vegetables and find 
out how they grow in the garden; visit a grocer's window 
where vegetables are displayed and learn how they get from 
the farmer to the grocer. (Thanksgiving.) 

Bulbs : The last of October, plant hyacinths in individual pots ; 
visit them once or twice during winter in their underground 
quarters ; bring into school-room in time to blossom for Easter ; 
take home for an Easter present to mother. Plant a bed of 
hyacinths in the garden to send to sick children when they 
blossom. 

The Pumpkin — a Hallow'en subject : study it as a " seed-box " ; 
save and clean the seeds; put away in individual envelopes 
made by the children; make the pumpkin into a Jack-o-lan- 
tern ; in the spring, plant the seeds in individual pots and keep 
in the school-room; plant in three ways to determine if 
growth is affected. 

How plants get ready for winter: Study the trees and grass on 
the campus, the vegetables and flowers in the garden to find 
out. 

The Garden : In the spring make a flower-garden ; learn to use 
hoe and rake; plant marigolds, pansies, nasturtiums, zinnias, 
salvia, and California poppy (flowers showy and seeds large). 

Animal-Life 

The Rabbit : Keep in large cage in school-room for a week or 
more; care for and feed carefully; let children work out simple 
problems like the following, — Why does the rabbit make a 
good pet? How does he take care of himself? What can 
we do to make him happy? 

The Pigeon: Keep in school-room and study like the rabbit. 

The Robin: Song, nest, eggs, use to us. 

Gold-fish: Keep in aquarium; set up the aquarium ("fish- 
home") in school-room before the children. 



78 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Butterflies and Moths : In fall, bring in caterpillars, watch for- 
mation of cocoons ; try to bring out for Easter. 
How do animals get ready for winter? 

Physical Phenomena 

From time to time, note color of sky, presence of clouds, fog, 

snow, rain, ice, sleet, frost, wind, etc. 
Children of this grade visit a farm and a market. 
Illustrated Lectures : "Autumn," " Winter," " Spring." 

SECOND GRADE 
Plant-Life 
Flowers. Review those learned in Grade I and add the following: 
In the fall: 

Wild : Clovers, — red, white, yellow or hop, buffalo ; gentians, 

— fringed and closed, cardinal flower, yarrow. 
Cultivated: Sweet alyssum, mignonette, petunia, verbena, 
ageratum, phlox, portulaca, coxcomb, cosmos, snapdragon, 
bachelor's button, calendula. 
In the spring: 

Wild: Saxifrage, wild lily-of-the-valley, Solomon's seal, 
rock pink, Dutchman's breeches, bellwort, toothwort, dog- 
wood, azalea. 
How are the spring flowers able to get into bloom so quickly? 
What becomes of the plants after blossoming? Develop idea 
of food-making and food-storage by the plant. 
Trees : Review those already learned and add sweet gum, horse- 
chestnut, elm and Lombardy poplar. Study outlines of trees; 
cut in paper. 
Evergreen Trees : Compare pine, fir, spruce and hemlock with 

reference to value for Christmas trees. 
Seed-dispersal: Collect as many kinds of seeds and fruits as 
possible ; supplement from school-collections ; discuss agency 
and device for dissemination. 
Bulbs : Plant daffodils in individual pots for Easter ; plant a 
bed in the garden for the children in St. Luke's Hospital. 



Nature-Study 79 

Vegetables : Study with reference to the part of the plant they 
represent, e.g., root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit or seed. (Thanks- 
giving.) 

Germination : Plant beans between blotting-paper and glass in 
common tumblers ; compare to determine most favorable 
amount of water; note cessation of growth and determine the 
cause. Plant other seeds, — corn, pea, grass, mustard, etc., in 
same way; keep some in dark; note effect on size of seed of 
light and darkness, of heat and cold. 

The Garden: In the spring, plant a bed of radishes and make 
a flower-garden ; plant mignonette, sweet alyssum, verbenas, 
petunias, portulaca, snapdragon, bachelor's button and calen- 
dula ; sow extremely small seeds on the surface. 

Wild-flower Window Garden.* 

Animal-Life 

English Sparrow : Study sparrows on street ; are they a nuisance 

or of value to us? 
Grackles and Starlings on Campus: Compare crow and blue jay; 

note return of robin, bluebird and song sparrow. 
The Squirrel : Study squirrels on campus ; find out what they 

eat, how they gnaw, where they sleep. Compare the chipmunk 

and red squirrel. 
Garden Foes : Injurious insects, — plant-lice, scales, caterpillars. 
Garden Friends : The earth-worm and toad. What does the toad 

do for us? What can we do for the toad? Compare the 

frog. Keep tadpoles in aquaria. 

Physical Nature-Study 

The three forms of water ; swelling of water in ice-formation, 
applications ; simple experiments in evaporation ; effect of frost 
on soil, on rocks. 

The thermometer : Value to the gardener. 

Building-stones : Granite, marble, sandstone and slate. 

Common minerals : Mica, quartz, flint, chalk. 

Illustrated lectures : " Early New York," "Animals of Man- 
hattan in the Time of Hudson," "Animals as Pets." 



* Transplant from fields and woods while in bud. 



80 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 



Fall work: 



THIRD GRADE 
The Garden 



Plant propagation: 

Strawberry-bed: Study the bed planted by Third Grade 

last year ; find original plants ; select strongest of new 

plants and make a new bed; each child should transplant 

at least one plant. 
Geranium-bed : From geranium-bed made by Third Grade 

of last year, select cuttings and plant in individual pots; 

keep in greenhouse till blossoms appear, then transfer to 

school-room; in spring transplant to the garden-bed to 

be used for window-boxes in fall and to furnish the next 

Third Grade class with cuttings. 
The Potato : Study in fall ; " make starch " ; cut properly 

and plant in individual pots in greenhouse ; " dig " in 

spring. Potato-beetle. 
Radishes : Plant individual boxes of radishes in greenhouse ; 

use different kinds of seeds ; decide which is best for 

greenhouse cultivation. 
Seed-formation: Study vegetable garden with reference to 

seed-formation; annuals, biennials and perennials. 

Spring work: 

Plan the kitchen-garden on paper; order seeds; mark off beds 
to correspond to plan; plant about fifteen kinds of vegeta- 
bles in the most approved way. Cooperative work. 

The Yard 

The Lawn : Make a lawn in a window-box ; sow seed, trim care- 
fully and determine where growth takes place. 

Enemies of the lawn : 

The Mole : structure and habits. 

The June-bug: metamorphosis. 

The Grasshopper: compare with June-bug. 

Shrubs : Forsythia, Japanese quince, bridal wreath, syringa, lilac, 
althea, barberry, etc. Study with reference to beauty of form, 
value for hedge, beauty of foliage or flower or color-mass, 
bright berries or fruits for attraction of birds. In the spring 



Nature-Study 81 

root pussy-willow branches in water, plant in window-box, 
transplant to garden or school-grounds. 

Vines : Japanese ivy, English ivy, woodbine, grape, moonvine, 
clematis, honeysuckle, morning-glory, scarlet runner, Virginia 
creeper, etc., mode of climbing, — twining stem tendrils, root- 
lets, etc. ; needed support ; value for shade, screen or wall- 
covering; beauty of foliage, flower or autumn coloring; value 
for fruit. 

Trees : Review those learned in preceding grades and add tulip- 
tree, sycamore, catalpa, linden, cottonwood and beech. Con- 
sider value for shade, screen, wind-break or beauty of form, 
and autumn coloring. Note advantage for single trees, clumps 
or avenues. 

The Orchard 

Native fruit-trees : Apple, pear, peach, quince. 

Nut-bearing trees (native) : Hickory, black walnut, butternut, 
beech, chestnut. 

Insect-pests in orchard; bird-friends. 

Japanese Garden: Construct a large and elaborate Japanese 
Garden and care for it in the school-room throughout the 
winter. 

Hives of Bees : Structure of the bee ; queen, worker, drone ; 
gathering of honey, pollen; wax; care of eggs and young. 

Paper-wasp, Mud-dauber, Ants. Compare with bee. Keep col- 
ony of ants in school-room. 

The parts of a flower; function of each; mutual dependence of 
bees and flowers. 

The Beaver and other fur-bearing animals. Visit beaver-dam in 
Zoological Garden. 

The Sea-gull : value as a scavenger. 

Group all the animals and plants studied thus far into ecological 
groups ; make window-gardens or sand-table demonstrations of 
one or more of the following, — swamp, brook and its banks, 
sunny upland slope, rocky exposed hillside, ravine, pine woods, 
deciduous woods; sink pans for water; use animal pictures 
or labels ; develop an idea of the country in the time of Hudson. 

Illustrated lectures : " Domestic Animals and Their Wild Rela- 
tives," " The Apple," " Flowering Shrubs and Trees." 



82 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

FOURTH GRADE 

Agriculture 
Garden-work : 

Kitchen-garden ; gather the vegetables planted the preceding 

spring. 
The Grains : Harvest the wheat, rye, oats, barley and corn. 
Plant a bed of winter rye, — sow one-half in drills and one- 
half broadcast to determine the best way of sowing. 
Fiber Plants : Gather the flax, cotton, jute and hemp ; supple- 
ment with material and pictures to illustrate industrial pro- 
cesses. 
Peanuts : Compare method of growth with peas, with nuts. 
Sweet Potato : Compare with common potato ; grow one in 

water. 
Tobacco : Note method of growth. 

Castor-oil Plant: Rub broken seeds on paper to show oil. 
Rubber : Use large school-room plant ; slash in places and col- 
lect and dry the sap. 
Sugar : Maple, beet, cane ; study with help of specimens, pic- 
tures and experience. 
The Products of the Zones : Collect and arrange material on 
three shelves representing tropical, temperate and cold regions ; 
include : 

Tea, cofl:'ee, cocoa 
Spices of all kinds 

Fruits such as the banana, pineapple, orange, lemon, grape- 
fruit, imported grapes, the fig, date and olive 
Nuts such as the Brazil nut, English walnut, pecan, filbert 

and cocoanut 
Supplement with charts and pictures showing culture and 
manner of growth. (Thanksgiving) 

Lumbering 

Pine, spruce, hemlock, white cedar, red cedar; value and uses. 
(Christmas) 

Lumber camps : Saw-mills, — site, management and power ; trans- 
portation of logs and lumber ; the lumber-yard. 



Nature-Study . 83 

Fisheries 

Fish of the Coast, of the Hudson, of mountain-streams ; methods 
of fishing. 

Salmon: study as the type of the fish. 

Lobster ; development, necessity of protection. Use cray-fish for 
individual study. 

Clam and oyster; the star-fish an enemy of the oyster. 

Turtle, French snails : keep alive in school-room. 

Dragon-fly and caddis-fly: keep nymphs in fresh-water aquarium 
(use material to illustrate Kingsley's "Water-Babies"). 

Salt-water aquarium: illustrate life of the seashore as far as 
practicable. 

Mining and Quarrying 

(This line of work is done largely by the departments of Geog- 
raphy and Industrial Arts) 

Soils : Clay, sand, gravel ; lime, salines and alkaline substances ; 
fertility, sources of humus ; barrenness, — causes of, deserts ; 
water-content ; simple experiments showing comparative water- 
content of different soils ; experiments showing effect of fertile 
and barren soils on plant-growth. 

Minerals and metals in common use. 

Methods of mining. 

Manufacture of glass and porcelain. 

Stones used for building purposes, monuments, paving. 

Visit a quarry or excavation for foundation of building. 

Illustrated lectures : " Water Babies," " Tropical Fruits." 

FIFTH GRADE 

Recognition at all seasons of the following list of park and forest 
trees ; their native habitat ; value for lumber, shade, wind- 
break or ornament : 
Maples : Sugar, red, white, Norway, sycamore, Japanese, 
Sweet-gum, sycamore or plane-tree, tulip-tree. 
Poplars : Silver, Lombardy, cottonwood, balm-of-Gilead, 
Catalpa, linden or basswood, elm, beech, chestnut, willow. 
Birches : black, yellow or curly, gray, white, weeping. 
Honey locust, common locust, ailanthus, ash, horsechestnut. 



84 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Shag-bark hickory, pignut, black walnut, butternut, 

Pine, spruce, hemlock, balsam fir, juniper, red and white cedar. 

Dissemination of trees from seeds, shoots or cuttings ; agents of 
and devices for seed-dispersal. 

Planting of acorns and maple seeds; transplanting of seedlings 
or young trees to country homes ; rooting and planting of wil- 
low-branches. 

The Tree as an Individual 

Its life-problems and how it meets them; structure and func- 
tions of the different parts of the tree, — the roots and root- 
hairs, trunk with the heart-wood, sap-wood, cambium, inner 
and outer bark; branches and twigs, buds, leaves, flowers, 
fruits and seeds. This work is illustrated by an abundance 
of material, microscopic slides, stereopticon views, transparent 
wood-sections, blocks cut to show the grain, and a series of 
simple physiological experiments to show absorption, conduc- 
tion, transpiration and starch formation. 

The Forest and its Problems 

The forest-floor, undergrowth and canopy; effect on rainfall; 
value and uses of the forest, its care and preservation; care 
of injured or diseased trees; reforestation; legislation con- 
cerning forests ; government reservations. 

Enemies of the Forest 

Fungi, their work and life-history. 

Winds, storms, lightning, snow, ice, sleet. 

Fires, causes and prevention. 

Gnawing animals : rabbits, mice, the beaver. 

Grazing animals : deer, cattle, sheep. 

Insects: moths, — the gypsy, brown-tail, tussock, tent caterpillar; 
plant-lice or Aphides, scales, elm-leaf beetle. Life-histories 
of injurious insects and methods of dealing with them; sub- 
stances used for and ways of spraying and fumigation. 

Man, the careless or ignorant or avaricious lumberman. 



Nature-Study 85 

Friends of the Forest 

Birds. (Not only the relation of birds to trees but also to the 
garden, to crops and to vegetation in general is here con- 
sidered.) 

The Bird as an individual: its structure and life-history; struc- 
tural and color adaptations ; habits ; nest, eggs and young ; food 
and consequent value to man. Something is learned of all the 
birds on the following list: English sparrow, starling, grackle, 
junco, chickadee, nuthatch, brown creeper, song sparrow, red- 
winged blackboard, robin, blue-bird, cedar waxwing, crossbill, 
meadowlark, kingbird, Baltimore oriole, goldfinch, cardinal, 
scarlet tanager, indigo bunting, vireo, humming-bird, flicker, 
downy woodpecker, blue jay, crow, cuckoo, whip-poor-will, 
purple martin, cliff and barn swallows, a few game-birds, the 
seagull, an owl, hawk and heron. 

Migration: Permanent and summer residents, winter and tran- 
sient visitants ; causes and routes of migration. 

Bird-lists are kept, — both class and individual. 

The material consists of pictures, mounted birds with nests and 
as many live birds as we are able to see. 

Visits are made to the American Museum of Natural History, 
to the Zoological Garden and to the Rambles in Central Park, 

Illustrative lectures : " Trees," " Forests and Their Uses," 
" Rivers and Their Work," " Bird Habits," " Bird Adapta- 
tions." 

SIXTH GRADE 
General Science 
Up to the Sixth Grade the study of nature has consisted mainly 
of lessons based on zoology and botany. In the Sixth Grade 
general science is made the basis of the course of study for 
boys, the topics for discussion being selected largely from the 
fields of physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry. In choos- 
ing topics much care has been taken to find those which par- 
ticularly appeal to the boy, and which serve to explain in a simple 
way a number of modern mechanisms, mechanical devices, works 
of municipal engineering, and such phenomena of the boy's 
environment as especially arouse his interest. The attention 



86 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

of the girls is directed toward a practical but elementary study 
of health. 

Science — Boys 

In presenting science to the Sixth Grade boys it is our aim 
to meet the demands of the curious, create a liking for science, 
and lay a broad informational basis. Following the maxims of 
the more progressive educators to offer a study in the light of 
the present needs and interests rather than as a preparation for 
some future work, " to search for the pupil's empirical and 
natural interests," we build up the year's work with the aid of 
the pupil's suggestions. 

At the beginning of the term a list of possible projects is given 
the class and the boys are asked to choose those which to them 
seem interesting and important. Then, after the course has 
begun, there is no end to the number of projects which either 
arise from the pupils' experiences or grow out of these first 
few. In helping the boys solve their many problems no thought 
is given to the divisions that have been applied to the sciences, 
but the problem, in its solution, simply engages whatever science 
it will. 

A brief outline of a type lesson, the development of the story 
of the submarine, is given here : 

How is it possible to make the submarine float or sink at will? 

When do bodies sink? 

Compare this with the rising and falling of an aeroplane. 

Compare the submarine with undersea vessels for purposes 
other than warfare. 

What prevents the water from entering the vessel when a 
sea-bottom searcher leaves it? 

How is the submarine propelled? 

What is the advantage of having both a gasolene engine and 
an electric motor for propulsion? 

What are some of the possible accidents and their prevention? 
— foundering, collision, explosions, asphyxiation. 

How can the whereabouts of submarines be found? 

Study the progress made in the submarine since the reign of 
King James I, covering the work of Day, Bushnell, Fulton, Lake, 
and Edison. 



Nature -Study 87 

Study the periscope — individual construction by pupils. How 
is the light reflected so that a person under sea can see on the 
surface of the water? 

Several projects that might arise from a discussion of this 
nature are ventilation, gasolene engines, motors, generators, stor- 
age batteries, uses of lenses and photography. 

A few of the projects which have absorbed our attention dur- 
ing the past year are : 

Refrigeration. 

Water supply. 

Ventilation. 

Automobile. 

Gas engines. 

Mining, explosions, and condition of air in mines. 

Pure air — burning. 

Story of the match. 

Progress of illumination. 

Eclipse of the moon February 3, 1916). 

The moon, sun, and earth. 

Planets and stars. 

Meteors. 

Motors and dynamos. 

Electro-magnets. 

Bells, telegraph, and telephone. 

Story of the Atlantic cable. 

Wireless. 

Musical instruments. 

The steel age — to-day. 

Story of the pencil. 

Science — Girls 

Two periods a week are devoted to the study of health, its 
value, and the means of keeping it through life. The subject 
matter has three important phases, — personal hygiene, public 
health, and first aid to the injured. 

Under the first phase, emphasis is laid upon the fundamental 
health habits of children, such as good posture, personal clean- 
liness, habits of eating and sleeping and outdoor play. The 
need of the individual is stressed, but always with a forward 



88 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

glance at the greater good of the group of which the child finds 
herself a part. 

The proper handling of the questions of personal health pre- 
pares the way for an interesting study of the larger field of 
community and social welfare work. The work of the city 
Board of Health controlling the spread of communicable dis- 
ease, of the street cleaning department, of food inspectors, all 
are of interest to the child who has a growing social conscious- 
ness. 

A period of several weeks is devoted to the study of the Simple 
principles of first aid and home nursing, with an attempt 
to give the child a knowledge of the causes, prevention, and 
treatment of the common emergencies. Each girl equips a 
small " first-aid box " which is judged at the end of the school 
year with regard to neatness, completeness, and low cost. This 
work is supplemented by readings assigned in the best text-books, 
printed matter which the girls will bring in, and class-room 
discussion. The method is informal, and the major emphasis 
is given to the achieving of health as a means to abundant life, 
rather than as an end in itself. 



INDUSTRIAL ARTS 

The purpose of the work in industrial arts is to give the pupils 
a background of knowledge and experience which will enable 
them to appreciate the industrial aspects of modern civilization. 
Just as the work in geography, history, or arithmetic aims to 
put the child in touch with those aspects of his environment, 
so this work in industrial arts is an attempt to bring the child 
into sympathetic and intelligent relationship with the world of 
industry in which he lives. 

Knowledge and appreciation in this field, is gained through 
actual constructive work, explanations, discussions, demonstra- 
tions, and excursions. It is believed that the knowledge and 
appreciation which is most vital to the child, and which interests 
and appeals to him most, is gained through the constructive 
work, so in all the grades more time is given to this phase than 
to any other. This is particularly true of the work in the early 
grades. The work is organized so as to afford the pupils 
manipulative work in virtually all the materials used in modern 
society to meet the primal needs of man. The industrial content 
consists, for the most part, of facts relative to the materials 
used, their sources and preparation, the technical processes 
by which these materials are transformed into useful pro- 
ducts, and the study of the workers as productive individuals 
in the community. Thus an industrial attitude or viewpoint is 
developed, resulting in an appreciation of and interest in the 
world's work. 

The pupils are led to recognize and think of the things which 
serve their needs — food, shelter, and clothing — as the products 
of industry, the materials of which they are made as the materials 
of industry, and the workers who devote their time to con- 
structing these things as large contributors to human welfare. 
It is a new viewpoint for the child when he realizes that clay, 
for example, which he has known as a play material, has a real 
use and value in the life world; that the making of things with 

89 



90 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

it occupies a great many people every day, with the result that 
he has dishes from which to eat his food, ornaments with which 
to beautify his home, and a brick house to live in. 

Aside from the general information gained relative to the 
materials of industry, the work of the artisans, and skill in 
processes of manipulation, appreciation and love of the beautiful 
also are gained, thus functioning directly in the development of 
good taste and ability to choose wisely the industrial products 
which are required in our homes in meeting our daily needs. 

The general purpose of the course in industrial arts may be 
summarized under the three following heads : 

1. To develop an appreciation and understanding of the social 
and economic setting of industry in society, and also an intelligent 
basis for the further study of industrial problems. 

2. To develop appreciation leading to the intelligent selection 
and use of the various industrial products which are fundamental 
to the primal needs of man. 

3. To acquire sufficient skill in the various industrial pro- 
cesses to construct a project pleasing to the pupil, and illustra- 
tive of the industry. 

The aims thus set forth are realized through a study of the 
following industries : clay, textile, wood, paper, food, printing, 
and metal. Aside from the work given to clarify ideas relative 
to these industries, opportunity is provided for free manipulative 
work from the standpoint of expression. 

The construction of projects in the various materials enumer- 
ated forms a basis for the acquisition of skill in manipulation, 
and for the development of industrial concepts. Owing to the 
varying local and individual interests, there is some diversity 
of projects from year to year, but the basic principles for select- 
ing these projects remain the same: 

1. Projects must be of real and vital interest to the child, and 
present a problematic situation which he can solve. 

2. Projects must be so selected as to permit of systematic 
development and successful achievement of the manipulative 
processes. 

3. Projects must, so far as possible, illustrate or typify modern 
industrial processes. 



Industrial Arts 91 

4. Projects must be so selected as to allow some opportunity 
for individuality in structural or decorative design. 

The relation of the industrial work to the study of New York 
City is set forth graphically in the chart under the geography 
course.^ The general method of procedure is to study first the 
industries in their broad relation to human life. With this as a 
background the local setting of the industry is then studied in 
detail, such topics being developed as the extent and local im- 
portance of the industry, the conditions under which the industry 
is pursued, and the general personal and community problems 
resulting from mal-adjustments of the industry to the welfare of 
the worker. 

FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH 
GRADES 

The boys and girls work together in the first five grades, and 
follow virtually the same course throughout. In the First and 
Second grades the work, with the exception of that in wood, is 
done in the class room. Much of the work is planned in con- 
ference with the grade teacher, because of the close relation 
which exists between it and the other lines of school work. All 
the work is supervised by the special teacher, and at least one 
lesson a week in each grade is taught by her. The grade teacher, 
with the help of the industrial art assistant, takes charge of the 
other two lessons. In the Third, Fourth, and Fifth grades, all 
the work is done in the hand-work room and is taught by the 
special teacher. In all the grades the work in fine and indus- 
trial arts is very closely related, as many of the projects are 
designed in the former and carried out in the latter. Ninety 
minutes a week in thirty-minute periods are given to the subject 
during the first and second years, and eighty minutes a week 
in forty-minute periods during the third, fourth, and fifth years. 

The work develops from a consideration of the common needs 
of the individual for food, clothing, and shelter, and involves a 
study of the clay, paper, wood, textiles, and food industries as 
the means whereby these necessities of life are supplied. The 
study of an industry consists of the purely informational work 

1 See page 32. 



92 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

CHART SHOWING THE CONSTRUCTIVE WORK IN 



INDUSTRY OR 
INDUSTRIAL 
MATERIAL 


grade I 


GRADE II 


GRADE III 


Clay 


Toy dishes, paper 
weights, trays, 
marbles. 

Orange, lemon. 

Model vegetables of 
plasticine for store. 


Fern dishes, tiles. 

Indian bowls, beads. 

Jack-o-lantern. 

Snow man, Indian 
figures. Apple, 
pear, pumpkin. 


Bricks for house. 
Tiles for fireplace. 
Flower pots, art tiles. 
Relief of rosette or 
flower form. 


Textiles 


Rug, curtains, etc., 
for doll house on 
cardboard looms. 
DoU hammock on 
wooden frame loom. 
Reed work basket. 

Pan-Kfter and work 
apron. 


Indian suit, head- 
dress and mocca- 
sins, shoe-bags, 
bookmark, mat, 
rugs for Indian vil- 
lage. 

Print cloth. 

Indian loom. 


Wool-wash, card, 

spin, etc. 
Penwiper. 
Plain, mixed, striped and 

plaid cloths. 


Wood 


Looms, doll furniture, 
hammock, stands, 
farmhouses, Eskimo 
sleds, etc. 

Wren house. 


Ring toss game, bean- 
bag board. 
Tile mold. 


Brick molds. 

Continuous warp 
looms. 

Framework of house- 
cutting flooring and 
shingles. 


Paper and 
Printing 


Booklets, box, paper 
the doll house. 


Booklets. 

Box with hinged cover. 


Box with fitted cover. 
Booklets. 


Concrete 








Metal 








Foods 


Boil water. 

Make bouillion and 

cocoa. 
Make apple sauce. 
" Cranberry " for 

Thanksgiving party. 
Bake an apple. 


Cook prunes. 

Pop corn. 

Make Indian-corn 

bread. 
Make oatmeal cookies 

for Thanksgiving 

party. 


Make jelly. 

Can apples. 

Make butter and cheese. 

Cocoa, junket. 

Ice cream. 


Group 
Projects 


Farm scene. 
Eskimo village. 
Store. 
Thanksgiving party. 


Indian village. 
Pueblo. 


Brick house. 



Industrial Arts 
CONNECTION WITH THE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES 



93 



GRADE IV 


GRADE V 


GRADE VI 


Terra cotta for house. 

Plates, paper weights, candle- 
sticks. 

Tomato, beets, carrots, in 
round and in relief. 


Vases— Mosaics. 
Birds in relief, animal in 
round. 




Weave diagonal and figured 
cloths, sofa pillows or rug. 

Rugs, curtain, pillows, etc., 
for apartment furnishings. 

Weave clasi rug on Colonial 
loom. 


Experiments in testing and 
dyeing wool, cotton, silk, 
linen. 

Needle-book (girls). 

Work bag (girls). 

Weave reed basket and dye. 




Framework of house— nail- 
ing floor boards and shingles. 

Build and make furniture for 
apartment. 


Book rack, waste-paper 

basket (boys). 
Molds for Mosaics. 
Molds — for foundation of 

brick house and hearth. 
Mould and deckle. 


Shelf, clock frame, pic- 
ture frame and necktie 
rack. 


Paper apartment. 
Stencil and print papers. 
Calendar mount. 


Letter pad. 
Make paper. 






Set Mosaics. 

Pour foundation and hearth 

for brick house. 
Make concrete blocks and 

build with them. 






Copper trays. 

Brass corners for desk pads. 


Building metal motor 
boat. 


Cook a cereal. 
Potatoes (cream). 
Cook macaroni. 
Make muffins, baking powder 
bisciiit and bread. 


Scramble eggs. 
Make omelet. 
Cake and candy. 




Brick house. 
Apartment. 


Brick house. 
Frame house. 

Cook and serve luncheon 
for teachers. 





94 Curriculum of Horace Maun Elementary School 

and the manipulative work. Both are represented in each grade 
(this is not true of every industry, at present, but will be in the 
course of time), the former occupying comparatively little of the 
time in the First Grade, and increasing gradually in proportion 
as the grades advance. The children are much interested in the 
purely informational side, when it is presented to them simply 
and clearly. They are especially interested when pictures can be 
secured, or visits made, to clarify their ideas. Many of the 
children have traveled, and have visited factories of various kinds 
in different places, so that they frequently are able to add to 
the pleasure and interest of the class by telling of their experi- 
ences. The children's chief interest, however, is in the doing 
and in the object they are making as an end in itself. No 
special division of time for the two parts of the work is made. 
From time to time a whole or part of a period is used for dis- 
cussion, or the oral or written reproduction of a subject which 
has been discussed. Some of this reproduction work forms a 
part of the work in English. 

In the First Grade the special object is to establish a point of 
view or general industrial attitude toward the everyday things 
the children have, rather than to accumulate any amount of 
knowledge or to develop technique. The children are introduced 
to various industries and industrial materials, and learn a few 
simple facts about them, for example, as to sources — that cotton 
comes from a plant and wool from sheep. The work is closely 
related to the lives and experiences of the children. 

In the Second Grade, some of the primitive aspects are con- 
sidered through the study of Indian life, while from the Third 
Grade on the work develops more definitely along industrial 
lines. 

For the sake of being able to follow more readily the study 
of a specific material through a series of grades, the work with 
clay may be described as follows : 

The following story, made by the First Grade children, will 
serve to show the beginnings. 

Clay is a sticky kind of dirt. 

Clay is different colors. 

Miss Weiser showed us a block of colored clay. 

The colors were red, white, gray, 3-ellow, and brown. 



Industrial Arts 95 

Some Indians dug this clay out of a clay bank, and made it into a cube. 
Clay must be wet before it is used. 

We use many things made of claj^ — china dishes, china ornaments, 
bricks, and flower-pots. 

Many people work in factories every day to make these things of clay. 
Things made of clay must be baked before they can be used. 
We saw the oven where our clay things are baked. 

In the Second Grade, the study of clay as a material is carried 
a little further, and the children learn what has been done to 
prepare the clay for use before it comes to them, and see pictures 
of the machines used. They also take some lumps of dry clay 
and make it ready for use by going through similar operations 
by hand. They visit the kiln and learn more about it. They 
make a tile and learn the use of a wooden mold in shaping wet 
clay, also how dry clay is used to make the small floor tiles with 
which all New York children are very familiar. A study of 
Indian pottery is made, and the method of coiling tried. Clay 
as a building material is then introduced in the making of the 
pueblo. 

In the Third Grade, the study of this material is continued. 
It is learned that clay is a kind of soil made by the decomposition 
of particular rocks, and that there are different grades of clay 
which have various uses. . The children tell of their experiences 
in finding and identifying clay in the country and elsewhere. 
They make a flower-pot, and afterward see one shaped on the 
potter's wheel. 

The use of clay in buildings is further developed. This leads 
to a study of the brick-making industry, taking up the various 
processes, the machinery used, and ending with a brief historical 
sketch and survey of the industry as it exists in this country at 
present, and especially in New York State and in the Hudson 
River Valley. While making this study, they construct bricks 
in molds and build the walls of a small brick house (see illustra- 
tion) using tiles that they have made themselves to build a 
fireplace. 

In the Fourth Grade, the composition of clay is considered, 
and the subject of kilns, their firing, stacking, and temperature 
cones is referred to. Some modern ways of making dishes — 
jollying or jigging, and pressing — as well as firing, decorating, 



96 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

and glazing are studied. A plate is made to illustrate some of 
these processes. The terra cotta industry is also studied and 
some artificial stone is made for the brick house. 

In the Fifth Grade, the children make more artistic pieces of 
pottery. In this connection they learn about the composition and 
mixing of glazes, the tests of colors, the action of fire on glazes, 
the processes of shaping in plaster molds by lining the mold and 
casting, and how a plaster mold is made. On the informational 
side they gather a few important facts about the history of pot- 
tery making, the industry as it exists to-day, the number and 
location of the principal factories, the capital invested, and the 
conditions under which the laborers work. The children also be- 
come acquainted with the values and characteristics of typical 
American and European wares. Glass making as a closely related 
industry is briefly considered. 

The following is a more detailed outline of all the work of 
each grade. 

FIRST GRADE 

Industries: Clay, Paper, Textiles, and Wood 
Clay. 

Source, uses, and main characteristics. 

Processes involved in making things of clay, as shaping, drying, 
firing (visit kiln), and glazing. 

jNIanipulative Work : Toy dishes and ornaments for doll house, 
marbles, paper weights, and trays, involving the operations 
of rolling and rubbing to prepare the clay, and tapping and 
pressing to shape it. Most of the things made in this grade 
are shaped from one piece of clay. Each article is the result 
of one lesson's work, though the children may try several 
times on the same thing. The paper weights and trays are 
sometimes decorated by pressing pumpkin seeds into the 
clay, while it is soft, to form patterns, the latter having 
been made beforehand in the art class. After this the 
objects are painted and shellacked, or glazed by the children. 
Plasticine is used for modeling the orange and lemon. This 
precedes the cutting and drawing of the same in the art 
work. 



Industrial Arts 



97 



Paper. 

Uses. Of what made. 

Manipulative Work: Papering doll house and making simple 
booklets, boxes and ornaments for the Christmas tree, in- 
volving folding, cutting, and pasting. 

Textiles. 

Uses and sources of wool, silk, cotton, and linen. 
Identification of wool and silk : Children cannot tell linen 
and cotton apart, but can distinguish both from wool and 
- silk. 




Pottery. Grades I to V. 

Main processes : Twisting into thread, weaving, knitting, mak- 
ing clothing, cutting pattern, sewing (hand and machine), 
fitting. 

Manipulative Work: Panholder, apron, curtains, rugs, etc., 
for doll house, hammock for doll, and reed work basket 
with wooden bottom. 

Wood. 

Uses and source. 



98 Citrricitlitiu of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Main processes in wood construction : sawing, planing, nail- 
ing, and staining. 

Principal tools : saw, plane, hammer, etc. 

Manipiilative Work : Farm house, barn, wagons, birdhouse, 
loom frame, hammock stand, and doll furniture, involving 
measuring and nailing. Some of the measuring is done as 
a part of the arithmetic work. 

Tools : Hammer, back saw, mitre box. 

Illustrative Work. Group projects: 

Farm scene. Eskimo village. Different stories, or scenes 
from stories. 
Foods. 

Some of main groups and their sources. Farms, the market, 
and the store. 

Fire : Main cooking processes. 

Manipulative Work : ^lake bouillion from cubes, cocoa from 
the prepared cocoa, apple sauce and cranberry sauce. Bake 
apples. 

Busy Work : Knitting on toy knitters, weaving mats and other 
articles on cardboard looms, and making horse reins of cord. 
Modeling in clay and plasticine. Free work in wood. 

SECOND GRADE 

Industries: Clay, Paper, Textiles and Wood 
Clay. 

Review of work of First Grade. 

Main processes hi preparing clay for use : digging, grinding, 
sifting, mixing with water, and pressing. Pictures of ma- 
chinery used. 

Visit to our kiln: Of what materials made, fuel used, general 
principles of operation, time required for tiring our clay. 

Use of molds in shaping clay. 

Tile-making industry. Use of dry clay. 

Indian pottery. Building by coiling. 

Manipulative Work: Fern dishes, tiles (in wooden molds), 
bowls (Indian), Jack-o-lanterns, snowmen, and Indian beads 
involving same operations as in First Grade, with kneading 
clay, tilling a mold, and slip painting (design on tile) added. 



Industrial Arts 



99 



Model apple and pear in round. Draw same in group (on 
clay tile) and model very slightly. 

Paf'cr. 

Booklets for mounting, pictures. 

Indian books. 

Box with hinged cover. 




Wood Work. Grade:; I and 11. 

Textiles. 

Primitive cloth, skins and bark, patterns painted on. 

Our printed cloths ; kinds. 

Needles ; primitive and modern. 

Use of skins in our clothing: shoes, gloves, furs, and hats 

(felt). 
Knitted goods. 

Indian loom, shuttle, warp, woof. 

Manipulative Work: Indian suits, print cloth, book-mark, 
shoe-bag and Indian rug or blanket. 

Wood. 

Different kinds of wood. 

Names of some common woods. 

Main processes in lumbering, felling, sawing into planks ; 
lumber yards. 

Manipulative Work: Bows and arrows, ring-toss game, bean- 
bag board, and tile molds, involving measuring, squaring, 
sawing, boring, nailing, and gluing. 



100 Curriculum of Horace Mann liloncntary Sclwol 

Tools. Try-square, back saw. mitre box. hammer and brace 
and bit. 
Illustrative Work. Group Projects: Indian village. Pueblo. 

Theatre. 
B}isy Work. Cross-stitch mat. reed basket (wooden bottom), 

rui^s, and crocheting. 

Foods. 

Corn : Indian uses of corn. 

Primitive ways of cooking (Museum). 

Idea of preserving food for use at some future time, drying. 

Manipulative Work: Dry apples, cook prunes, pop corn, make 

Indian corn bread, make oatmeal cookies for Thanksgiving 

party. 

THIRD GRADE 

Industries: Clay, P.aper, Textiles and Wood 
Clay. 

More detailed study of clay as a material. 

Soil and its formation, rocks which ])roduce clay — feldspar. 
Different grades of clay — kaolin. Characteristic diiferences 
between clay and other kinds of soil. Experiences in finding 
and identifying clay, both wet and dry. Stories about dis- 
covery of use of clay. " Grandma Kaolin " story. 

Potter's wheel as a method of shaping clay. Demonstration of 
the making of a flower-pot on wheel. 

Clay as a building material. Brick making: processes, ma- 
chines, a typical brickyard, and its clay banks. Brick indus- 
try in this country as to cost and kinds and quantities of 
bricks produced. The Hudson Valley as a brick-making 
center; the state which leads in this industry. 

Brief historical sketch of brick making. The story of the 
Children of Israel. Primitive brick making. 

Brick laying: How bricks are placed in a wall, mortar and 
tools used. The use of bricks for paving. 

New York City as a market for bricks. Brick houses having 
an iron structure. Watch some building being built. The 
Building Department of New York City ; some of its simple 
requirements for safety. 



I II dust rial Arts 



101 



Manipulative Work : Flower-pots and saucers, bricks and tiles 
for the bungalow, and art tiles. The following operations 
are added in this grade: working to a given height, ham- 
mering a layer of clay to a given thickness, the use of the 
tool in cutting clay, tracing designs on art tiles, and painting 
either the design or the background with colored slip. 
Laving brick walls and tile fireplace in bungalow. 




Bungalow. Grades ill, 1\ 

Brick Work— Grade III. 

Terra Cotta— Grade IV. 

Concrete and Plastering— Grade V. 

Framework— Grades III, IV, and V. 



Art modeling: Rosette or flower form in relief, with sim- 
ple modeling of petals. This requires more than one lesson 
and involves a new use of the tool in removing the back- 
ground. This work follows the drawing of flowers in the 
art class. 



102 



Ciirrintlitni of Horace Maun FJriiiciitarv School 



Paper. 

Making- of box with fitted cover at Christmas time, simple 
booklets for moimtino- pictures. Cloth book and cook book. 

Textiles. Animal fibres ; wool and silk. 

Wool : Sheep and other wool bearing animals. 

Wool as a fibre, processes of preparation, shearing, washing, 
carding, spinning. Machines used. Demonstration of 
carding by hand, and spinning on wheel. 




Bungalow. Interior \'ie\v. 



Sheep-raising countries ; sheep raising in United States. 
Very brief historical sketch. Bible references. Story of 
Jason and Golden Fleece from " Tanglewood Tales." 

Manufacture of woolen goods in the United States. 
Silk: The silk worm. 

The silk thread ; processes of prej^aration, machines used. 

Silk i:»roducing countries. 



Industrial Arts 



103 



Stories of the origin of silk. Brief historical sketch. Silk 

manufacture in the United States. 
New York City as a market for silk and woolen goods. 
Cloth weaving and the continuous warp loom. 
The selvedge; color designs. Mixed, striped, and plaid 

cloths. 











Study in Cloth Design— Plaids. Grade III. 



Knitting and crocheting. 
Manipulative Work : Shear, wash, card and spin wool by hand. 
Design and weave some of the above designs. Make 
continuous warp loom, weave strip of cloth on it and 
make into bag or scarf. 

Crochet scarf, carriage blanket, sweater or cap for doll. 

Wood. 

Saws, sawmills ; visit carpenter snop at Teachers College. 
^Manipulative Work : Assist in cutting and laying the flooring, 

and cutting shingles for bungalow. 
]\lake brick molds, and continuous warp loom. 

Busy Work. 

Cross-stitch, weaving, crocheting. 

A play store or market made of wooden box. A circus wagon. 



104 Curricnhim of Horace Mann Elementary School 

The following is a typical paper written by one of the pupils 
in connection with the work of this grade. 



Processes in Brick Making 

Have you ever wondered w^here the bricks in your house come from? 
They have a long story. First they were nothing but clay in clay banks. 
At last it was taken in carts to the brick factory. The clay had to be 
cleaned, of course, but the main processes in making are shaping or 
molding, drying and firing. You can make bricks by hand or machinery, 
but they have to go through these three processes. 

Foods. 

Preservation of foods : canning, preserving, salting, pickling, 

cold storage. Visit Franco-American Food Company's 

factory. 
Milk, butter, cheese as foods: Milk supply of New York City. 

\'isit Sheffield Farms Dairy to see moving pictures. 
Manipulative Work: Make jelly, can fruit; make cocoa, 

junket, ice cream ; luake butter and cheese. 



FOURTH GRADE 

Industries: Clay. Textiles, and \\'ood 
Clay. 

Pottery industr)- : The making of china dishes ; making plate- 
mould of plaster; methods of decoration, glazing, and firing; 
kilns ; special study of our kiln ; its structure and opera- 
tion, telling temperature by cones, what happens to clay 
under fire ; I'liscuit firing, glaze firing, stacking and tem- 
perature for each. 
Building uses of clay. Stones commonly used for building. 
Quarrying. Clay as a substitute for stone; appearance, 
strength, fire tests. The terra cotta industry. Hollow tile ; 
its manvifacture and use. 
^lanipulative \\'ork : Plates and terra cotta pieces for bunga- 
low. The former made' on plate moulds. 
Art modeling: X'egetable forms in round, and built up half 
round on tiles. 



Industrial Arts 105 

Paper. 

Stencil wall papers and paper apartment; make calendar 
mount and writing pad. 

Textiles. 

Detailed study of two principal vegetable fibres (cotton and 
linen) as to growth, processes of preparation for use and 
machinery (inventors). Supply: New York City as a mar- 
ket. The clothing industry in New York City. Minor 
vegetable fibres and their uses. Simple woven designs ; 
diagonal and figured cloth. Foot looms, power looms. 
Names and prices of principal kinds of cotton and linen 
cloth. 

Rug and carpet weaving. 

Manipulative Work : 

^^^eave diagonal and spot designs. 

3.1 ake necessary furnishings for small apartment. 

Weave large rugs on hand looms and class rug on foot 

loom. 
Weave sofa pillow covers in diagonal and spot designs. 
Alake doll clothes, and knit sweater, scarf or cap for doll. 

Wood. 

Lumbering; its processes. 

Structure of wood; fibres, grain. 

Hard and soft woods ; supply. 

Manufacture of furniture (general). 

Sandpapering and staining. 

Manipulative Work: Assist with wood work for bungalow; 

cutting shingles and shingling roof. Build and furnish a 

small apartment. 

Foods. 

Cereals : Wheat, starch as a food. Bread supply of New^ 

York City ; visit one of the large bakeries. 
]Manipulative Work : Cook a cereal ; boil, mash, cream and 

bake potatoes ; bake muffins, baking powder biscuit ; make 

griddle cakes. 



106 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 




Loom and Rugs. Grade IV. 



Industrial Arts 



107 



FIFTH GRADE 
Materials: Clay, Plaster. Concrete, Glass, Textiles, and 



Wood 



Clav. 



The pottery industry in the United States ; its extent, oeneral 
location, main pottery centers ; workers, wages, factory con- 
ditions. 

Brief historical sketch of development of industry in this 
country. 




Wood Work. Grade \'. 

Some typical American wares. The best known foreign wares. 

Story of Palissy. Longfellow's poem, " Ceramos." Van 

Dyke's "A Handful of Clay." 
Oriental pottery. Visit Metropolitan Museum. 
Glazes: their composition, preparation, and coloring. 
Shaping clay by lining plaster mold and by casting. 
Mosaics: origin, uses, setting. Visit Cathedral of St. John 

to study mosaics there. 
Art modeling: animal forms in the round, birds on tiles, 

slightly modeled. 
Plaster of Paris. 
What it is. 
Its preparation and uses in making molds and plastering. 



108 Ciirricitliiiit of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Manipulative Work: 

Clay: Make vases, candlesticks, bowls or tiles. 

Plaster : Plaster walls of bungalow ; make plaster casts. 

Glass. 

Led up to by glaze. 

Conii)osition. kinds, uses, methods of shaping; colored glass; 
Tiffany favrile glass. 




House Framing. Grade V. 
Paper. 

Make letter pad: and portfolio. Make paper cards. Cut 
linoleum block and print cards. 
Te.vliles. 

^lethods of finishing cloths. 

Mercerized cotton ; artificial silk. 

Cloths of mixed materials. Substitutes. 

Methods of identifying wool, silk, cotton, and linen in cloth. 

Dyes ; kinds. Experiments with four textile fibres. 

Manipulative \\'ork : 



Industrial Arts 109 

Weave baskets. Make needle book and work bag. 

Make some simple tests for four textiles. 

Dye samples, and also some of materials used in lower 

grades. 
Dye baskets. 
Wood. 

Different cuts of wood. Wood as a building material. House 

framing. 
Edge planing. Planes and similar tools. 
Carving as a means of decorating wood. 
Manipulative Work: 

Assist with wood work for bungalow, making sill, plate, and 

roof. 
Make picture frames, book racks. Decorate with simple 

grooving or carving. Make waste paper basket. 
Build frame house (group or individual project). 
Metal — Copper and brass. Make trays and corners for desk pads. 

Foods. 

Eggs and sugar as foods: Visit bakery (cake) and candy 
factory. 

Manipulative Work : Scramble eggs ; make omelet ; bake plain 
cake and chocolate cake ; make candy. 

The following is a typical paper written by a pupil of this 
grade. 

Vase Making 

In factories vases are often made in this manner. A piece of clay is 
placed on a table, and a boy hammers it out to the desired thickness. 
Then he hands the layer of clay to a man nearby, who has a mold made 
of plaster of Paris, which is sometimes in three or four pieces or even 
more. The man lines each piece of the mold with clay, and then fastens 
the pieces together. He rubs the seams gently with slip to make the 
clay stick together. Then he hands it to a boy who carries it to a shelf 
to dry. 

After it is dry, the mold is taken apart and the vase comes out. Many 
other things besides vases are made in this way; pitchers, bowls, bath- 
tubs, etc. 



Note. — The foregoing description of the work in Industrial Arts gives 
the general plan prior to the year 1915-1916. Already, however, several 
important modifications of the work are being undertaken experimentally. 
Particularly in the first and second grades the idea of allowing children 



no 



Curriciiluin of Horace Mann Elementary School 



SIXTH GRADE 
The work of the boys and girls in this grade is separate, that 
of the boys being done in the shop and that of the girls in the 
sewing and cooking rooms. 

Bovs 
The work is designed to be informative and manipulative in 
connection with the wood and metal industries as far as is pos- 




tictal AluU.r \W> 



Grade VI. 



sible within the limits of the time given, — one hour each week. 
Contact with these industries is had through the projects made 
by the pupils. 

The main project is a sheet metal motor boat of the round 
bottom tyi)e. The hull is of tin plate shaped by folding and 
pounding over a wood form and soldered at bow and stern. 
The wood form is built up of laminations marked out and cut 
by the pupil from patterns furnished him. These pieces are 
nailed together and their edges shaved down to make a sym- 
metrical hull. 

The boat is equipped with an electric motor and a battery of 
two regular number 6 dry cells in series. The propeller is made 
by the pupil and is driven through reduction gears in order to 
obtain maximum motor speed which aifords maximum power 

a freer expression of their own ideas and interests through the medium 
of materials is replacing the practice of imposing certain work upon 
them. 



Industrial Arts 111 

together with minimum current consumption. The ultimate 
gain is long cruising range for the boat. On completion of the 
boats the interest cuhninates in a hvely contest in the swimming 
pool where prizes are awarded to the winners. 

The other projects worked out are in the nature of copper 
book ends or small trays or bowls hammered into wood forms. 

Industries Represented and Studied. 

1. Ltmibering industry. 

2. Iron and steel industry. 

3. Tin plate industry. 

4. Copper and brass industry. 

5. Tin and lead industry. 

6. Electrical manufacturing. 

7. Commerce. 

Aims. In the selection of the projects and in the study of 
them the end in view is to bring to the pupil : 

1. The more important facts concerning those industries repre- 
sented by the materials used and the projects worked out. 

2. Knowledge of and manipulative practice in the common 
industrial processes. 

3. Knowledge of and practice in simple mechanical and elec- 
trical constrviction. 

4. Opportunity for expression of that strong interest in boats 
which is manifest from the earliest grades. 

5. Satisfaction of that common desire to create things which 
may be used. 

Girls 

The year's work for girls is divided into two parts, one part 
given to cooking and the other to sewing. The same amount of 
time is given to this work as to that of the boys, an hour each 
week. No detailed announcement or outline of plan can be 
given here as the work is the beginning of an extended study of 
the household arts continued through the High School. 



FINE ARTS 

The art course should hring out the child's appreciation of the 
beautiful, stir his creative power to action, make him think for 
himself, and give him respect for fine workmanship. 

Art lessons give opportunity for original work in choosing and 
combining three things: line (spaces, shapes), dark-and-light 
(tone, mass, contrast), and color. Right use of these three 
produces the fine art of the world; wrong use of them produces 
the commonplace, the merely commercial, the vulgar and the 
ugly. 

The art course that is broad and practical gives the children 
progressive experience in using these three elements in right 
ways, through designing, painting, drawing, modeling, construct- 
ing. 

Appreciation of fine quality of line, dark-and-light, and color 
will aft'ect the character and appearance of the community, the 
home, dress, hand work and industrial ])roducts. 

The art course, having this definite purpose to give experi- 
ence and develop i)ower, must follow its own way, and keep 
its individuality, but it can easily join with other courses as 
opportunities ofi^er. Among these are, — designing for industrial 
problems, making illustrations of stories read, or of the life of 
peoples, illustrations of history, geography, botany and nature 
study, painting of flowers, fruits and birds in season, — producing 
material for school events, festivals, school plays, sales or 
holidays. 

Appreciation is brought out by three methods ; association, 
comparison and execution. Children absorb appreciation from 
beautiful things brought into the school-room — pictures, photo- 
graphs, textiles, pottery. 

Children are helped to appreciate by comparing fine with com- 
monplace, thereby developing critical judgment. Let them see 
their own work by the side of others, for comparison. 

Another way to appreciation, the best of all, is through ex- 

112 



Fine Arts 113 

pression, the effort to give visible form to an idea. It satisfies 
the creative instinct and trains the art-sense. 

The basis of choice in lesson, subject, method and material 
is that to which the children have best responded. The work 
must grow upward from the child's point of view rather than 
downward from the adult's, thereby keeping the fearless, naive 
childlike interest and expression toward which the conventional 
adult mind usually looks back as upon a lost Eden. We do not 
claim that this method leads immediately to correct form draw- 
ing (by a few pupils), but we do claim that it means, for the 
many, greater interest, freedom, breadth of view, individuality 
in expression and a broader appreciation. 

KINDS OF WORK 

Clay 

Clay, so free and responsive, is one of the best materials for 

little children, and they all love to w^ork with it. Clay can be 

used in imaginative ways allied to illustration as well as for 

shapes for pottery. 

Water Colors 

The most fruitful form of expression that we have had in 
the last three years has been the free brush drawing in color. 
A successive development in this kind of drawing has gone on 
through the six grades with flowers, animals, figures, patterns, 
and lettering, and we are now taking up landscape and illus- 
tration. 

Weak, wishy-washy effects have largely passed out of our 
water color work through a vigorous campaign for action, good 
arrangement, and strong color, i he children learn how to hold 
a brush, how to measure water by brush fuls and calculate the 
amount needed, how to load it with sufficient color before using, 
how to look for the main direction in an object and dift'erent 
direction in its parts (this is the way we teach action), how to 
think ahead far enough to plan a group of things in good rela- 
tion. Little children learn to attack any subject they wish, re- 
gardless of the number of figures or colors. They learn how to 
make figures in different ways without their running together, 



114 



Curricitltiiit of Horace Maim Elementary School 



and how to make them move. All of these hozvs, to be vital 
must grow out of past attempts, whether successful or not. 

To meet the demand for illustration in the first two grades 
where technique is limited, little figures made of brush strokes 
have proved to be excellent as a beginning. (Fig. 1.) The 



'''^V««Cq^ '^t^ 



4^\ 



» "? •' 5 ' 



•^ '^ ** •^ ^ « if 



■^.nmm 



Fig. 



Grade I. Rhythm. Brush Drawing in Color. 



action and color are first worked out in one figure or leader 
which is followed by a number of figures doing the same thing; 
from this, groups become an easy matter with the strong feeling 
for rhythm shown by young children. 

The Plrst Grade, in the fall, painted leaves blown by the wind. 
In the large majority of cases they took the form of a rhythmic 
march. At Easter a flight of butterflies was suggested. AX- 



Fine Arts 



115 



though tinfamihar, it appealed to their imagination and they 
made the connection between the leaves blown by the wind and 
the butterflies following a leader. A most delightful set of 
drawings was the result. (Fig. 2.) It was another rhythmic 



ill 



£ 



♦s*« 



A 



fe^ 



I ^^ 


h 


i k > 


^ I 



m 



^ + * 



rrtt 



^f 



^i 



Fig. 2. Grade I. Flight of Butterflies. 

march but with greater variation in shapes, arrangement, and 
brilliancy of color. Often there would be a large leader, adding 
the art principle of Subordination to the principle of Rhythm. 
The butterflies were followed by a flight of birds, a familiar sub- 
ject. In this the striking point was that while the shapes and 
colors were of a most varied and imaginative character, all of the 
birds had the appearance of flying in groups. 

In the Second Grade the little brush figures are only used at 
first to assure the teacher that the feeling for action has been 
retained, then the figures are made larger. 

Indian life, costumes and bowls are first painted. When Dutch 
life is represented, the figures become larger. This is followed 
by painting schoolmates from life. In the Third. Fourth, Fifth, 



116 



CitrricKliiii! of Horace Mann Hh-iiioitary School 



and Sixth Grades the free painting of figures in color is con- 
tinued. — largely from schoolmates posing for a short time, or 
from memory of figures in school plays or activities. In these, 
action is emphasized, but an attempt is made to develop gradually 
the feeling for better proportions and shapes. 




Grade \'. Studies ot Birds. Brush Drawing 



In the Fifth Grade there is an interesting series of bird draw- 
ings connected with the study of bird life in the spring, first in 
line, then in dark-and-light (Fig. 3). and linally in color. In 
this we prefer to work from models of live birds rather than 
from stutTed birds. 

Free brush painting taught as rhythm has proved a successful 
form of elementarv lettering. Beginning in the First and Sec- 



/'/ 



Arts 



.17 



ond Grades hv printing single words on valentines or holiday 
cards, it becomes a title sheet in tiie Third Grade, holiday cards 
and booklet covers in the Fourth and Fifth, and a poster for a 
yearly candy sale in the Sixth. 




Fig. 4. Gratle 11. Garclen,>;. Colored Cut t'apor. 

In the High School we tind that our jnipils who work with 
greatest freedom are those who had this form of drawing in 
the Elementarv School. 



Cut Colored Paper 
This material has a threefold value for elementarv art. being 
well adapted to the study of color and arrangement, and easy 
of manipulation. 



118 Ciirriciiliiiii of Horace Matin Hlciiiciitary School 

All children seem to adore cutting papers of different colors 
into attractive shapes and arranging them in a pattern, a 
landscape, or a group of fruit, flowers, or figures. This interest 
is a good means of obtaining variety of selection. A child can 
cut an object in many different colors and shapes, and try them 
all in as many different places as he pleases before pasting them 
permanently in place. To mention one example of this method : 
When the Second Grade children are making gardens in the 
spring the teacher lets them make a garden in colored paper as 
they would like to have theirs look when the flowers have come 
up and blossomed. The children invariably select a dark brown 
background as being the nearest to the newly turned earth. 
They then choose colors and cut from them flowers, sometimes 
adding birds and butterflies, and of their own accord arrange 
these in a rh}thinic group with a complete disregard for the 
realistic details which would haunt a grown person. These 
groups are sometimes in rows, sometimes in circles, of different 
flowers, colors, shapes, and sizes. The paper gardens are used 
for portfolio covers when they are finished. (Fig. 4.) 

This method is also used for bookcovers in the Third Grade, 
where the child chooses the subject as well as the papers; and 
again in the Sixth Grade for bag designs to be made in sewing 
class. For the bag, the first choice is an appropriate background 
color from a large number of papers, and the second choice is 
a group of bright papers for the pattern. Then the patterns 
which have been worked out by each girl are traced on the paper 
selected by her, cut out, fitted to the pattern traced on the bag, 
and pasted down. This gives a large variety in both choice 
and result. (Fig. 5.) 

At another time, the teacher may select a group of papers of 
harmonious colors with which the children can work. 

It is valuable on the side of appreciation for the children to 
use well selected colors, and on the critical side to see many ways 
of doing the same thing. An example of this is found in the 
First Grade May baskets. (Fig. 6.) From a selected group of 
colors the children choose what they consider a good color for 
a basket, cut out this by a shape they have already drawn, place 
the basket on the background and move it around to see how it 



Fine Art: 



119 






120 CurricnUtni of Horace Mann FJcnicntary School 




Fig. 7. Grade II. Illustration for " Life of the City Rat." Class work 
in cut paper. 



Fhic Arts 121 

looks in different places. After choosing the best they paste it 
down. Next they cut flowers from their selected papers, and 
arrange them in the basket. 

Sometimes they make a large Alay basket for the next year's 
class, to be put in the class frame. Those who have made the 
best baskets compete in making a large one, the children choos- 
ing the one to be used. This is arranged and pasted down under 
the criticism of a group of the children. Each child then brings 
up his individual flower contribution and places it where he 
desires, in or out of the basket. If it is satisfactory it is allowed 
to stay ; if not well placed the group changes it to harmonize 
with the rest. 

Another class problem of this kind is a scene from the Life 
of the City Rat, made by the Second Grade. (Fig. 7.) The 
same methods. are also used in the Second Grade in making a 
basket of fruit at Thanksgiving, portfolio covers with Indian 
designs, Dutch figures, valentines, Christmas cards, also a twenty- 
foot frieze of Indian life on the plains for the end of the class 
room. 

In the Fifth Grade vase shapes are cut from colored paper 
when vases are the subject of study in the Industrial Arts. 

Colored Crayon 

The chief value of colored crayon is that it is a medium ready 
for use. This saves precious time when problems are carried 
through several lessons. For instance, the Fourth, Fifth, and 
Sixth Grades take an active interest in technical perfection, 
spending much time upon many of the drawings. The unchang- 
ing quality of crayon makes it possible to take up the color 
exactly where it was left in the lesson before. 

One particularly satisfactory crayon lesson is the Fourth Grade 
plate design. (Fig. 8.) It presents a complete experience, from 
the study of fine plates in the Metropolitan Museum, to the 
child's finished plate, which strongly resembles in character the 
European peasant pottery. The child first makes the plate in 
Industrial Arts class and brings the pattern to the Fine Arts 
class where he adapts any subject he wishes to the shape of 
the plate. This drawing is made with brush and water color 



122 



Curricitliiiii of Horace Maun Elementary ScJwol 



to obtain freedom and freshness. The pattern being made, it 
is traced on a paper which suggests the color and value of glazed 
clay. Three crayons are selected which approach in appearance 
the three glazes to be used, and the pattern is drawn with these. 
This method results in a great variety of patterns and adaptation 
of three colors. 




Fig. 8. Grade I\'. Designs for Plates, Blue in Two \"alues. Crayola. 



The Fourth Grade roof class, instead of making a plate, 
designs and executes a tile with subject adapted to the tile 
shape. (Fig. 9.) This involves a museum visit to see and 
study tiles. The reason for making a tile in this class is that, 
being weather proof, it can be used as a decoration in the roof 
school. We are planning to have the tiles set in the cement 
wall. 



Arts 



123 



In the Fourth Grades definite study of differences in color 
is worked out with crayon on a hectographed chart. There may 
be five difference of hue, — red. yellow, green, blue, purple ; with 
three dift'erences in dark-and-light, and three differences in 
intensity. Afterward the children make practical applications 
of this theory before taking up the next color problem, a design 




Fig. 9. Grade IV. Tile Designs, Crayon. 

for a rug, to be woven in the Industrial Arts class. The first 
step is to select a shape for the rug. A sheet of paper nine 
inches by twelve, of a neutral color, is given the children. They 
can change the shape by making the rug narrower in proportion 
to its length. The weaving process requires a striped design, 
so the art of the pattern depends upon the width and arrange- 
ment of the stripes, the combination of the colors and the sort 
of crayon stroke used to represent the stitch. The last point is 



124 



Ciirricuhiju of Horace Mann Elementary School 



an important one as the rug design is executed with the crayon 
stroke as representing the over-and-under effect of the actual 
weaving process. 

In the Sixth Grade the boys make a design for bookrack ends 
which they execute in black crayon on colored paper. This 




10. Grade II. 



lustrations of Indian Life. 



problem is to be made in metal and the interest is in (a) the 
shape, (b) the relation of the bright to the pounded surfaces 
making the pattern. 

In the earlier grades the crayons are used for seat work or 
when there is not time for the painting ; but the effects are so 
much less free than the brush drawings in color and the cut 
paper, that they are used but little in class time. 



Fine Arts 



125 



In the Third Grade there is a booklet cover for a Christmas 
verse in the child's best handwriting. The design for this is 
executed in crayon, and cut from paper. 




Fig. II. Grade II. Designs for Bowls. 



The Study of Pictures 
Appreciation of good pictures, sculpture, and architecture has 
always been regarded as a mark of culture. The appreciation 
shown by all classes among some of the foreign nations makes 
us blush when we realize to what extent it is the possession 
of but few in our own country. There is unquestionably a 
need of it in our schools and the question is how best to develop 



126 



Citrriciiluiii of Horace Maim FJcmcutarv School 



it. In most places original works of art are somewhat scarce 

and the greatest masterpieces must be seen only in reproductions. 

In the Horace Mann School we have tried in two ways to 

give this study a place ; by bringing pictures into the work in 




Grade 11. Dutch Life. 



connection with some particular school subject, or by showing 
them to a grade which is at an age when certain pictures make a 
special appeal. The pictures are not studied merely as interesting 
subjects but to emphasize the art elements in them. The number 
of suitable subjects for children is none too large. ]\Iost of the 
works of art have been produced for more mature minds. Pos- 



Fi)ic Arts 127 

sibly these pictures have an effect upon children akin to that 
which the palm-bearing saints of the Early Renaissance might 
have upon an active twentieth century son of Wall Street. One 
eternal exception to this last mentioned type of picture is " Baby 
Stuart " by Van Dyck. who seems to have taken real baby life 
into the canvas with him. Children universally love the picture. 
A photograph of this we take to the First Grade. There is quite a 
group by Van Dyck good to show in connection with Baby Stuart. 



^vY.?,- 




VflCflTIDN 
. I5HEI^AT 
LAST 

HUMUmi 

Fig. 13. (,ra.k- \'l. \acau.m I'mMu-, lull color. 

The portrait in the Morgan collection of a nameless baby 
by a nameless artist was called " The Unknown Baby " by one 
group of our First Grade children. Other favorites are " The 
Nurse and Child " by Franz Hals. " Helena Van der Schaak " 
by Ter Borch. " Bon Bock " by Manet. " Good Papa Corot," 
and " Walt Whitman " bv Alexander. 



128 



Ctirriciihiiii of Horace Maim Elementary ScJiool 



After a lantern slide lecture the children in each room are 
asked what pictures they like best and why. In this way a long 
list has been obtained, one that contains many surprises for 
the grown ups. 




Fig. 14. Grade VI. Figures from Life. 

Among those chosen are " St. Genevieve Watching over the 
Sleeping City " by Puvis de Chavannes, " Portrait of my 
Mother " by Whistler, " Bearers of Wine Vessels " from the 
Parthenon frieze. Landscapes, by Corot, " The Temeraire " by 
Turner, " Nativity " by Francesca, " The Wave " and " The 
Fisherman " by Hokusai. the Paradise end of the " Last Judg- 
ment " by Fra Angelico, the " Presentation of Mary in the 
Temple " by Giotto and *' Walt Whitman " by Alexander. 

In the same way some of the world's greatest buildings are 
shown compared with each other and with New York buildings. 
The Taj Mahal is the favorite with the majority of our children. 



Fine Arts 129 

In studying animal pictures, those by Japanese artists are 
most easily comprehended by children, as the great knowledge 
of animal life shown by the Japanese and their direct and simple 
manner of expression appeals to children. An interesting set 
of Japanese animal drawings can be obtained at reasonable 
prices. Other good examples are animals by Swan, " The Square 
Book " by Nicholson, a study of a lion by Landseer, lions by 
Barye, animals in illustrations by Denslow and Charles Living- 
ston Bull. 

During New York week a collection of pictures is shown of 
works of art in New York, — buildings, sculpture, and pictures. 
The colored reproductions, in the Times' Sunday Supplement, 
of the Morgan and Altman collections and the Joan of Arc 
series of Boutet de Monvel, mounted on soft gray boards, make 
a good colored collection. 

The most valuable form of picture study is derived from 
museum expeditions when the children see the originals by 
great painters and grow familiar with their whereabouts. After 
visiting the museum it is well to get a report from the children 
of what they like and why. 

Illustration 

One of the most interesting phases of the art side of child 
life is the love of picturing the imaginings of their active minds. 
The perfectly fearless free way in which they express them- 
selves and their love of this form of expression is reason enough 
for accepting illustration as a legitimate form of Child Art. As 
an outlet for the imagination and a way of developing it, illus- 
tration may prove an invaluable means of offsetting utilitarianism 
in the child mind and keeping it from commonplace and stag- 
nating materialism. 

As the imaginary things which children picture, are usually 
suggested by something that they have seen, free expression 
seems a finer way of approaching the realities of art than the 
attempt to lead children to perpetual representation. The child 
in working uses the things he knows about, and although this 
is a form of imitation it is never servile, for in passing through 
the child's mind the idea gains a freshness and individuality 



130 Curricuhim of Horace Mann Elementary School 

which an adult's copies ahnost never have. The child is a natural 
imitator but not a copyist. 

Illustration for young children usually means the stringing 
together of some of the objects which have left an impression 
on the mind. It lends itself more readily to design than to 
representation. 

Little children have a simple way of telling a story and a 
natural way of adapting their story to the art medium used; a 
way quite unaffected by conventional traditions. They choose 
the points most interesting to them and express those, ignoring 
backgrounds and certain other realistic accessories. (Fig. 10.) 

Objects are twisted to fit the space worked upon regardless 
of how many facts of shape and proportion are destroyed by 
so doing. This trait lends itself much more easily to the funda- 
mental art principles of Rhythm (Fig. 1) and Spacing than it 
does to size and proportion. Size is determined by interest 
rather than by realistic facts ; for example, in an illustration 
of the story of the mother and children chasing the pancake, they 
drew the pancake in proportion to its importance, ranging from 
half the size of the children to even larger. The mother was 
always larger than the children, who were invariably of one 
size and action whether girls or boys. The running children 
presented a delightful rhythmic repetition and however lacking 
in conventional anatomic relation, have a " go " that few artists 
succeed in getting. 

Two other characteristics of young children's illustrations are 
placing people and things invariably on the edge of the ground 
as if it were a hill, and representing the sky by a band of color 
across the top of the paper. In both of these cases the objects 
having no painted background stand out boldly. This empty 
space the child almost always calls " air " or " nothing." It is 
an interesting fact that the Japanese printers represent sky in 
exactly the same way, for an art-reason. 

In executing illustrations the medium most easily used should 
be selected. For things in the round, clay is invaluable, but for 
illustration on paper we use water colors, as children who are 
in the habit of using a brush can get much stronger and freer 
color effects with ease. Children often use colored crayon as 



Fine Arts 131 

a convenient material but it is harder to obtain a vigorous 
effect. 

For the booklet " Suggestions for Home Reading " printed 
by the School to be sent to the parents at Christmas, the children 
made the illustrations with black paint, as that is better for 
reproduction. 

Sales, School Plays, Festivals 

These have brought into School life a most stimulating motive 
for concerted art work. 

For a sale for war sufferers the children, from the First Grade 
up, worked for months upon articles to be sold. Their respect 
for their own work was greatly enhanced when they found 
what people were willing to pay for it and the price which they 
were obliged to pay to retain it. Much to our amazement the 
First Grade children, for two months, painted, without any sign 
of weariness, little action-figures, birds, animals and flowers 
upon dinner cards, which were sold by the dozen. 

The Second Grade put cut paper units of bright color com- 
binations on correspondence cards. The Third Grade made 
blotters and note-books that they decorated with their own de- 
signs in colored cut paper. In the Fourth Grade each child 
designed an Easter card, envelope to match, and decoration 
for the card in water colors. The Fifth Grade painted some 
attractive birds for which they made frames in the Industrial 
Arts class. The Sixth Grade made and decorated three hun- 
dred candy boxes. The designs were their own ideas adapted 
to the square box shape, and painted on the covers freely, the 
children drawing the design in color with their brushes. They 
grew quite expert and the designs were very effective and 
attractive. 

The children also made designs for articles executed in Indus- 
trial Arts ; for example, in the Second Grade terra cotta bowls 
with black patterns, (Fig. 11), in the Fourth Grade, plates which 
they gave to the cause. 

School Plays give a constant opportunity for the use of art 
ideas. Costumes, stage settings and innumerable trappings bring 
their art ingenuity into play. 

The Festival shares with the Sale an important place as a 



132 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

stimulus for work and brings in a different type of decoration. 
For our last festival the children first illustrated the life of the 
people each group was to represent, and decorated the costumes 
to be worn. Later they sketched their schoolmates in the cos- 
tumes and made memory drawings illustrating some part of the 
pageant. 

The First Grade illustrated Eskimo life. The Second Grade 
took Indian life, made Indian bowls, and designed their own 
costumes. The Third Grade represented Japanese life. They 
made cherry blossoms from tissue paper and pasted them on 
the branches of the trees under which they were to have a 
cherry festival. They designed the stencils to decorate their 
costumes. The girls made patterns on their kimonos and the 
boys put crests on the sleeves of theirs. The Fourth and Fifth 
Grades, representing respectively Spanish and Norwegian life, 
were particularly interested in making colored drawings of their 
schoolmates in costume. The Sixth Grade, representing days 
of chivalry, drew knights, ladies, and saints, and decorated 
banners and shields before the festival. After the Festival they 
sketched each other as bishops, knights, heralds and King John 
with the Magna Charta. No knights of old ever took more 
interest in the color of their shields than did these boys. 

The children were angelic as they appeared in groups with 
their costumes over their arms and their own designs pinned 
to the costumes. Each child took his place at a desk and select- 
ing colors from the pans of fresco paints, painted his design. 
The Second Grade worked with primitive freedom and astonish- 
ing rhythmic accuracy. The Third Grade used their stencil for 
repeating patterns with their best efforts toward Japanese 
efficiency in execution. The stirring Seventh Grade boy was 
invaluable as a distributor of paints and in hanging finished 
garments on burlap walls covered with newspapers. The Seventh 
Grade was also valuable in assisting the younger children with 
the stencil process. The good conduct which comes with great 
interest is one of the delightful features of festival preparation. 
Fifty Japanese costumes and twenty Indian costumes were decor- 
ated in the studio under the direction of four teachers and some 
Seventh Grade assistants, without one being spoiled. 



Fine Arts 133 

OUTLINE OF GRADE ART WORK 
GR.\DE I 

Art Problems : Rh\-thmic arrangements leading to subordina- 
tion; color differences in hue, dark-and-light, bright and 
dull. 

Subjects ix Water Colors : Rh\thmic borders for Thanks- 
giving doilies, wall papers, place cards. Leaves blown by 
wind, flight of butterflies, flight of birds. Figures in action, 
children at play in snow, children flying kites, Eskimo 
activities. 

Illustratioxs : Pied Piper with rats. Pied Piper with children ; 
Pancake story ; Rabbit story ; sunny day ; dull day ; rainy 
day; landscape with figures, landscape with flowers. Spring 
flowers. 

Subjects ix Cut Paper: Growing pumpkins, Jack-o-lanterns, 
Christmas booklet, valentines, ^May basket, bookcover, land- 
scape with moon. 

Art Appreciatiox : Baby Stuart, Baby Stuart's Brothers and 
Sisters, Baby Stuart's portrait painter. Van Dyck; Prince 
Balthazar Charles, Infanta Marguerita by Velasquez; Un- 
known Baby, Spanish school in ^Morgan collection; The Age 
of Innocence, Reynolds; Sheep, ^lauve; ^Milking" Time, 
The ^Meadow, Julien Dupre ; The First Step, ^lillet. 

GRADE II 

Art Problems: Continued rhythmic expression, subordination, 
color differences, study of spacing, more careful study of 
shapes. 

Subjects ix Water Colors: Fall flowers, fall fruits, arrange- 
ment of fruit for tiles ; Indians in action, Indian village with 
wigwams, Indian costume design, Indian bowl design ; Dutch 
figures, landscape with Dutch figures (Fig. 12) ; action 
poses from life ; winter landscape with snow man ; printing 
of letters; spring flowers. 

Subjects ix Cut Paper: Thanksgiving basket of fruit; Christ- 
mas booklet ; animal borders ; Indian book cover ; Dutch 
book cover; design for garden. 



134 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

Art Appreciation : Study of Indian patterns ; Dutch pictures : — 
The Windmill, Ruysdael, Infant with Nurse, Franz Hals; 
Helena Van der Schaak. Compare with Boy with Sword, 
Manet; Baby Stuart. 

GRADE III 

Art Problems : Subordination, more critical study of spacing, 
rounding up of color combinations, study of three values, 
light, middle, dark. 

Subjects in Water Colors: Spray of autumn leaves, autumn 
flov/ers, printing, action' poses from life, action poses from 
memory, illustration, landscape, spring flowers. 

Subjects in Crayons : Tile design, Christmas booklet. 

Subjects in Cut Paper: Cover for poem booklet. 

Art Appreciation : Study of Famous Children in Art, The Two 
Sons, Rubens ; Portrait of Frederigo, Francia ; Prince Balt- 
hazar Charles, Velasquez ; Penelope Boothby, Reynolds ; The 
Age of Innocence, Reynolds ; Carnation Lily, Lily Rose, Sar- 
gent; Beatrice, Sargent; Boy with Sword, Manet; Little 
Rose, Whistler; Miss Alexander, Whistler. 

GRADE IV 

Art Problems : Definite problems in spacing, dark-and-light 
massing in three values, study of color differences in hue, 
dark-and-light, intensity, tone. 

Subjects in Water Colors : Fall flowers, line drawings of 
vegetables, color drawings of vegetables, application of color 
theory, designs for Easter cards, printing for book covers 
and title pages, Christmas flowers, action poses from life. 

Subjects in Crayons: Color theory, plate designs, stencil de- 
signs, rug designs. 

Art Appreciation : Study of fine plates at Museum and from 
photographs, study of fine rugs, Japanese stencils. 

GRADE V 

Art Problems: Critical study of line as rhythm, subordination, 
spacing and shape ; color differences of hue, four values of 



Fine Arts 135 

dark-and-Hght, and four differences of intensity, study of 

tone. 
Subjects in Water Colors : Tree shapes, landscape with trees, 

borders for vases, Christmas flowers ; appHcation of color 

theory, action poses from life, illustrations, printing, birds 

in line, dark-and-light and color, spring flowers. 
Subjects in Cut Paper: Vase forms. 
Subjects in Crayons : Tile design in black and white, rug 

designs, color theory. 
Art Appreciation : Study of fine vases. Study of Corot, Millet, 

great Italian paintings. 

GRADE VI 

Art Problems: A review of the art principles of the preceding 
grades, through advanced problems in line, dark-and-light, 
and color. 

Subjects in Water Colors : Posters for candy sale ; posters for 
Horace Mann sale; posters for vacation (Fig. 13) ; decora- 
tions for candy boxes ; poinsettas from drawn model ; flowers 
from nature ; landscapes and marines in black and white ; 
landscapes and marines in black and white and color; 
school-mates in action; figures from drawn model (Fig. 14) ; 
figures from memory ; figure color problem, 3 hues, 3 values, 
3 intensities. 

Subjects in Crayons : Color theory, 5 hues, 4 values, 4 intensi- 
ties. Book rack and designs. 

Subjects in Cut Paper: Bag designs. 

Art Appreciation : Study of pictures in New York City through 
visit to museum, with special emphasis on Altman collection, 
Morgan collection, and American and modern paintings. 
Discussion of pictures children liked best and the art-reason 
why, with reproductions of museum pictures as reference. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION 

The work in Physical Education is required of all pupils and 
is conducted by specially trained teachers in the various gym- 
nasiums of the school. The time assignment is five twenty- 
minute periods each week for grades one and two, four twenty- 
minute periods for grades three and four, and three thirty- 
five-minute periods for grades five and six. The boys and girls 
are taught together in the first four grades, but in separate classes 
in the other grades. A thorough physical examination is given 
to each pupil by the school physician at least once a year. If 
this examination shows that the child's physical condition is 
such that he should not participate in the regular gymnastic work 
of his class, the teacher is notified and the parent is advised to 
provide special corrective treatment or exercises. Likewise, any 
facts that the class-room teacher or the gymnasium instructor 
should know are reported to her. 

FIRST, SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH GRADES 

The physical activity in the first four grades is furnished by 
games, dancing, apparatus work, marching, free play, and 
exercises. 

In the First Grade dramatic and singing games form a great 
part of the work. Rhythms, such as marching, skipping, playing 
animal, dolls, giants, or fairies, are often used as such or as parts 
of stories that are dramatized. In games the idea of fairness 
is emphasized, and the simplest form of " team " developed. 
Marching is for rhythm, form, and organization. No attention is 
paid to their marching out of step, but the form of marching 
with reference to appearance of the group carefully is dwelt upon. 

The apparatus work is to develop control of the body with 
reference to external objects. By the end of the fourth year 
nearly all have learned to climb ropes. In the first grade, at 
the beginning of the year, the work consists mostly of free play 
on the apparatus, with balls, bean bags, hoops, etc. This gives 

136 



Physical Education 137 

to more children greater experience than an organized lesson 
on one piece of apparatus. Gradually, as the class becomes 
organized, they play less and less individually ; groups play 
together, and finally the class as a unit. Exercises are rhythmic 
and bear on the technique of dance or game that presents diffi- 
culties. Chopping exercises soon develop into w^oodmen's plays, 
throwing exercises into bombarding a " snowman." The ex- 
ercises are for posture and for the strengthening of the feet 
but always as a means to better execution of movements used 
in games, dances, or on the apparatus. 

Stories are dramatized from reading lessons, and where there 
is dancing introduced or movements requiring the freedom of the 
gymnasium or the experience of the instructor this is gladly 
correlated with the grade work. Throughout the grades oppor- 
tunity is given for individual expression and the working out 
of original ideas in rhythms and dancing. Seasonal interests 
are a guide to the selection of material, as are also skills, and 
interests of the children and the traditional plays of certain ages. 

In the Second Grade the rhythms of the First Grade are car- 
ried over with the addition of slight plot. More dances are 
taught with attention for group work. In games more skill 
is developed, and from individual races they go into team races, 
such as the relay. In the middle of the second year the children 
become conscious of marching in step to the music, and in their 
marching correct posture and group form are emphasized. 

The rhythms of the Third Grade are not used so much as 
separate material but as parts of dramatic and singing games 
and dances. Cooperation and team spirit develops rapidly in the 
game. Marching always is in step and for form. 

In the Fourth Grade dramatic and singing games and simple 
rhythms are replaced by the folk dance. In the games, not 
only is cooperation and team spirit developed, but also grade 
spirit, and match games between the two Fourth Grades are not 
infrequent. Attention is paid to the form of execution in march- 
ing, where simple marching tactics are introduced, and in ap- 
paratus work. Exercises are for use in development of skill 
on apparatus and in games, through strengthening of arms, 
abdomen, and feet. 



138 Curriculum of Horace Mann Elementary School 

The hygienic benefit of the pupil's work in the gymnasium 
never is made an end in itself, although it is of importance to 
the teacher in her selection and handling of material. Correct 
posture on the whole is got through games and dances as a means 
to better execution of the movement, and spirit; more lasting 
results are obtainable through the normal activities of the chil- 
dren and their accompanying joys, than through formal exercises. 

FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES: BOYS 

The gymnasium work for the boys of the elementary grades 
consists of marching, calisthenics, and games. The corrective 
aspects of the calisthenics drills receive special attention. More 
than half the time is devoted to games, and this emphasis is 
justified not only by the splendid exercise afforded by the games, 
but by the opportunity they give for the development of honor, 
fairness, and team spirit. The boys and the girls of the sixth 
grade may spend one period each week in the swimming pool. 

FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES : GIRLS 

The physical education of the girls of the elementary grades 
involves several forms of activity, such as freehand exercises, 
simple apparatus work, plays, games, and dancing. 



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